Interim Report - Report No 100, 1967

4. These cases relate, in part, to general questions such as the law and practice respecting the right to organise, collective bargaining, the right to strike, etc., and, in part, to more specific matters, such as the detention or sentencing of trade unionists or workers in circum stances which, in the view of the complainants, constituted violations of freedom of association.

1. 4. These cases relate, in part, to general questions such as the law and practice respecting the right to organise, collective bargaining, the right to strike, etc., and, in part, to more specific matters, such as the detention or sentencing of trade unionists or workers in circum stances which, in the view of the complainants, constituted violations of freedom of association.
2. 5. Except for Case No. 507, which now comes before the Committee for the first time, the Committee has already submitted to the Governing Body reports containing conclusions on the main issues raised by these cases. All these reports have been duly approved by the Governing Body.
3. 6. By approving the earlier reports of the Committee the Governing Body has drawn attention to the principles relating to freedom of association which are enunciated in the Preamble to the Constitution of the I.L.O and the Declaration of Philadelphia, and in the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98). More recently, in connection with statements by the Government regarding existing concern in Spain for the modernisation and improvement of trade union methods and structures, the Committee and the Governing Body have expressed the hope that the measures undertaken for those purposes would ensure the effective enjoyment of the generally recognised principles of freedom of association referred to above, and requested the Government to keep the Governing Body informed of any measures proposed or adopted in this connection.
4. 7. With reference to collective bargaining, the Governing Body has drawn the attention of the Government to the importance of trade unions having the right by collective bargaining to seek to improve the living and working conditions of their members. More recently, having taken note of a statement by the Government that proposals were being considered with a view to replacing approval of collective agreements in its existing form by a system of registration, the Governing Body has requested the Government to keep it informed of any provisions adopted to put the proposals concerned into effect.
5. 8. With regard to strikes, the Governing Body has pointed out that the right to strike of workers and their organisations as a legitimate means of defending occupational interests is generally recognised, and emphasised the importance it attaches to the establishment of adequate guarantees, where strikes are prohibited or subjected to restrictions in essential services, to protect the interests of the workers, and observed that such prohibition or restriction should be accompanied by the provision of adequate, impartial and speedy conciliation and arbitration procedures in which the parties can take part at every stage. More recently a in connection with the amendment of section 222 of the Penal Code, the Governing Body has drawn attention to the importance of the new text (which, according to the Government, no longer includes amongst acts constituting offences of sedition strikes not aimed at undermining the security of the State, disturbing its normal activity or seriously disturbing national production) being so interpreted that strikes aimed at promoting and defending the workers' occupational interests cannot in any circumstances be considered as constituting the offence of sedition, and has requested the Government to keep the Governing Body informed of any specific cases of strikes in respect of which the courts may decide whether or not section 222, as amended, is applicable.
6. 9. With regard to various cases of detention and sentencing of workers and trade union leaders, the Governing Body has drawn attention, in a number of reports, to the importance it attaches to the principle that trade unionists, like all other persons, should have the right to receive a fair trial at the earliest possible moment by an impartial and independent judicial authority. In several cases in which allegations that persons had been deprived of their freedom because of their trade union activities were met by the Government by statements that they had committed acts constituting offences or subversion, the Governing Body or the Committee has requested the Government, in accordance with the practice followed by the Committee in other similar cases, to furnish copies of the relevant judgments and of the reasons adduced therein.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

• Allegations the Examination of Which Is Still Pending
  10. 10 While the Governing Body has reached these conclusions on the main questions of principles involved, there remain pending a number of questions arising out of allegations concerning the application of these principles in particular cases.
  11. 11 In Cases Nos. 294 and 397, further information on certain points was requested from the Government in paragraph 197 of the 95th Report of the Committee, approved by the Governing Body at its 168th Session (February-March 1967). These points relate to the sentencing of five members of the so-called Workers' Committee of Vizcaya, whose appeals were still pending before the Supreme Court; to the case of Mr. Joaquin Garate, sentenced in his absence on grounds which, to judge from the allegations, may have had some connection with the strikes in Bilbao in 1964; to the arrest and sentencing of two workers of Sabadell and 25 other workers who were said to have been arrested in connection with the strikes of May and June 1964 in the mines of the Asturias; to the case of Mr. Sabino Urrutia Ureta, sentenced in 1965 with three other workers, a matter which the Committee considered, on the basis of the information before it, might have some connection with the exercise of trade union rights; and to the case of Mr. Ramón Ormazábal Tife, who was one of 47 workers sentenced in connection with the strikes of 1962 and who is the last of these persons still in prison.
  12. 12 In Case No. 461 the Government was requested, in paragraph 258 of the 95th Report of the Committee, to furnish further information on a labour dispute which took place at Sestao in October 1965 and, in particular, to be good enough to specify what procedural rules were applied by the administrative authorities for the imposition of fines on the instigators of and participants in the dispute and, in particular, what safeguards were available to the workers concerned for their defence, and also whether any of them have been imprisoned or are liable to imprisonment for non-payment of fines.
  13. 13 In Case No. 497 the Government was requested, in paragraph 328 of the 95th Report of the Committee, to keep the Governing Body informed as to the outcome of an appeal filed by four members of the Workers' Trade Union Alliance (A.S.O.) against the sentence pronounced by the Court of Public Order on the basis of activities which the complaining organisation considers to be trade union activities and which the Government regards as subversive political acts.
  14. 14 Case No. 507, which is before the Committee for the first time at this session, consists of a complaint presented by the World Federation of Trade Unions in a communication dated 24 January 1967, the text of which was transmitted to the Government by a letter dated 9 February 1967. In this communication the W.F.T.U accuses the Government of exercising systematic repression against the trade union movement, supporting the employers in their alleged anti-union policy, and devoting insufficient attention to the well-being of the workers in its social policy. More specifically, the W.F.T.U alleges the arrest of workers and trade union leaders, including seven members of the Metallurgical Workers' Committee, at Villaverde (Madrid), after a meeting held to consider the calling of a strike. According to the allegations, these leaders, and five other leaders of " a socialist organisation of metallurgical workers " and three leaders from Jerez de la Frontera, are still detained. Also, in Madrid, various leaders of the metallurgical workers have been detained, against whom, it is alleged, the " official trade unions " have initiated expulsion proceedings, in order to prevent them performing the functions to which they were appointed by the workers at the last elections.
  15. 15 Supplementary information has been received relating to some of the matters referred to in paragraphs 11 to 13 above, in a communication from the Government dated 16 May 1967. Further, through the good offices of the Permanent Delegate of Spain to the International Organisations in Geneva, the Committee has received the texts of certain judgments the contents of which it had thought it desirable to study before formulating its conclusions on some of the points in question. Also, in the same communication dated 16 May 1967, the Government furnished its observations on the complaint presented by the World Federation of Trade Unions which is referred to in paragraph 14 above.
  16. 16 The Government states that Mr. Ramón Ormazdbal Tife (Case No. 294, see paragraph 11 above), who, according to information furnished earlier by the Government, was sentenced in 1962 for illegally entering the country in order to carry out subversive activities and had then had his prison term reduced from 20 to 16 years, is now serving his term without having requested his conditional freedom.
  17. 17 The Government states that Mr. Sabino Urrutia Ureta (Case No. 294, see paragraph 11 above) will, by application of legal favour (reduction of penalty, conditional freedom, etc.), terminate his sentence on 28 September 1967.
  18. 18 Among the judgments of which the Committee now has the texts are those relating to Mr. Garate, the two persons detained in Sabadell (Messrs. Ferrer and Orovitch) (Case No. 294, see paragraph 11 above) and 31 persons, mostly miners, but including some students, sentenced in connection with the strikes in the Asturias (Case No. 397, see paragraph 11 above). From the judgments mentioned, it appears that Mr. Garate was sentenced by the Court of Public Order for the offences of illegal propaganda and illegal possession of arms, the first of which offences consisted of the printing and distribution of a clandestine periodical of separatist tendency, which included in its text such expressions as: " the process of robbery and spoliation effected by Spain against Navarre has been ferocious, implacable and only now, after four centuries of Spanish-French domination, can we observe that the loss of our Kingdom, of our political sovereignty, has resulted in the depopulation, backwardness.", " we are not resigned; we are engaged in a struggle against the Spanish-French invaders.", etc. Mr. Ferrer was acquitted by the relevant judgment and Mr. Orovitch was sentenced for an offence of illegal propaganda, consisting of the possession, with a view to their distribution, of tracts, the texts of which ran as follows: " Worker: the Franco régime tries to convince us of the reality of the 25 years of Spanish peace. Twenty-five years of Spanish peace? Absolutely not ! You know that this peace is no more than war.". Of the 31 persons mentioned above, 17 were acquitted by the Court of Public Order, including all those who were accused by the Prosecutor of the offence of seditious striking, on the basis of the text of article 222 (3) of the Penal Code then in force (the text prior to the amendment of 1955). The 14 others were sentenced for the offences of unlawful association or illegal propaganda, exclusively related to adherence to the Communist Party, which, in turn, was outlawed by a decree of 1936 and a law of 9 February 1939, the offences in question being prescribed by articles 172, 173 and 174 of the Penal Code.
  19. 19 With regard to the five members of the Workers' Committee of Vizcaya (Case No. 397, see paragraph 11 above), the Supreme Court, by a judgment dated 16 February 1967, dismissed the appeal lodged by the persons concerned. It appears from the judgment that they were considered to have committed the offence provided for in article 175 (1) of the Penal Code, by having founded an association while failing to comply with the previous formalities required by the Associations Law of 30 June 1887 and the decree of 25 January 1941 (submission of Constitution and rules, establishment of domicile, approval of the competent Ministry).
  20. 20 With respect to Case No. 461 (see paragraph 12 above), the Government declares that the imposition of fines by the governmental authority is regulated by the Public Order Law. As regards the guarantees for a person found guilty, it points out that those concerned can appeal to the authority superior to that which imposed the penalty. A period of 15 working days is allowed within which-to permit of the lodging of an appeal-one-third of the fine must be deposited. In final instance an appeal lies to the Supreme Court. As regards this specific case the Government states that no complaint has been made to the competent judicial authorities.
  21. 21 As regards the complaint of the World Federation of Trade Unions dated 24 January 1967 (Case No. 507, see paragraph 14 above), the Government, after rejecting the allegations of a general character therein as being without any foundation, declares that all those detained at Villaverde are now at liberty and that the three persons detained at Jerez de la Frontera for illegal participation in the Workers' Trade Union League (U.S.O.), a clandestine trade union organisation, have been liberated conditionally.
  22. 22 The Committee takes note of the information referred to in the preceding paragraphs.
• Communication from the Government with respect to the Examination of Pending Complaints relating to Spain
  23. 23 In a communication dated 11 May 1967 referring in part to the same cases, the Government expresses its surprise at the retention for examination, over a long period, of cases of alleged violation of trade union rights in Spain. The Government adds that some of the complaints are presented in unacceptable terms or are not supported by particulars or are even formulated telegraphically and receive a degree of urgency which is not compatible with the calmness, prudence and assembling of information required for their consideration and appropriate to the functioning of an international organisation with the prestige of the I.L.O. In this connection the Committee contents itself with observing that it has always been guided in its calm and attentive examination of the more than five hundred cases which have been referred to it, irrespective of the source or subject of the complaint, by consistent principles based on decisions taken by the International Labour Conference.
  24. 24 The Government emphasises that the co-operation between Spain and the I.L.O is demonstrated by such facts as the ratification of 49 I.L.O. Conventions, which are scrupulously applied. Recently the Government submitted to Parliament proposals to ratify five more Conventions, including the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105) and the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111). Inasmuch as the Office regards Conventions Nos. 100, 105 and 111, with the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) and the Right of Association (Agriculture) Convention, 1921 (No. 11), both ratified by Spain years ago, as fundamental instruments relating to human rights, the Government expresses its conviction that it has made a real contribution in this connection.
  25. 25 The Government refers also to various aspects of existing law and practice in respect of conditions of work and social security: changes recently made in the Labour Charter of 1938; the elections conducted in 1966 by the [official] trade union movement and the role it plays with regard to social and economic policy and the defence of the individual rights of workers; the development of collective bargaining; the amendment of article 222 of the Penal Code concerning strikes; the study of new bases for the settlement of collective disputes, etc.
  26. 26 In conclusion the Government, stating that it is moved by the spirit of co-operation with the I.L.O, with the object of providing once again the factual elements which will clarify the true labour and trade union situation in Spain, suggests that it would be desirable for the Governing Body, on the proposal of the Director-General of the I.L.O, to appoint a study group composed of impartial and objective persons possessing the highest qualifications and familiar with labour matters. The object and mission of this group would be to study the following matters:
      • (a) the autonomy, representative character and authenticity of the Spanish trade unions;
      • (b) the concept, principle, development and operation of trade union collective bargaining in determining conditions of work;
      • (c) guarantees of impartial and independent judicial procedure for trade union leaders and workers generally in the sphere of labour;
      • (d) trade union participation in representative public institutions and in economic and social development and administration; social functions and achievements of the trade unions.
  27. 27 In the event of acceptance by the Governing Body of the I.L.O, in accordance with the terms of the proposals made in its communication, the Government expresses its willingness to arrange with the Director-General the date of and other details concerning the visit of the study group to Spain.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 28. The Committee considers that an examination by a study group, appointed by the Governing Body on the proposal of the Director-General, of the labour and trade union situation in Spain could be a useful contribution to the fulfilment in Spain of the objectives of the International Labour Organisation. Such a group would examine the autonomy, representative character and authenticity of trade unions in Spain, collective bargaining, judicial guarantees, the role of the trade unions in economic and social development, and the relationship of these matters to the principles concerning freedom of association enunciated by the International Labour Organisation.