Interim Report - Report No 139, 1974

1. 482. The complaints of the Workers' Federation of Santander (FESTRA) and of the World Federation of Trade Unions are contained in two communications dated 16 May and 8 June 1972. These complaints were transmitted to the Government, which forwarded its observations thereon on 29 January 1973.
2. 483. Colombia has ratified neither the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), nor the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 484. With its complaint, the FESTRA encloses a copy of a communication dated 10 May 1972, sent to it from Bucaramanga Prison by thirteen petroleum workers who had been sentenced to several years' imprisonment for having taken part in a strike in August 1971. According to the complainants, these workers are among the thirty-six strikers sentenced by courts martial for alleged offences of sedition and seizure of property. The complainants maintain that all these trade unionists are innocent of the offences with which they have been charged. Similar allegations are made by the WFTU.
2. 485. In the first observations it made, the Government stated that the workers in question were in prison for having committed offences that came within the jurisdiction of the military courts. Anything connected with public order, declared the Government, was outside the labour sphere. Moreover, the Government concluded, relations between the employers and the Workers' Trade Union Federation (USO) - an organisation that appears to have been involved in the aforementioned strike - were excellent, and a new collective agreement, of which it enclosed the text, had just been signed.
3. 486. At its 63rd Session (19 February 1973), the Committee took note of the Government's observations, but considered that more detailed information was necessary to enable it to express an opinion in full knowledge of the facts. It consequently requested the Director-General to ask the Government to furnish detailed information on the charges brought against the imprisoned workers and the procedure followed before the military courts, together with the text of the judgements rendered with reasons annexed.
4. 487. In a communication dated 5 July 1973, the Government supplies the following information. The proceedings in which the workers were involved did not fall within the competence of the ordinary courts. The acts for which they were tried were committed while a state of siege was in force and were considered to be crimes of seizure of property and against the national economy, punishable by the military judicial authorities which had jurisdiction at the time and at the place where the events occurred. Consequently, the Ministry of Labour was not competent to intervene on any matter connected with the present case.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 488. The Committee considers that the Government's observations still do not go far enough to enable it to examine the substance of the case. It wishes to point out that, even if the matters raised in the complaint do not fall directly within the competence of the Ministry of Labour, the procedure for the protection of freedom of association is intended to ensure respect for such freedom in fact as well as in law in every context and that, in consequence, irrespective of the conditions under which these workers were sentenced, the legislation in pursuance of which sentence was pronounced or the authorities pronouncing sentence, the Committee must be in possession of the necessary information in order to be able to reach conclusions in full knowledge of the facts.

489. The Committee accordingly recommends the Governing Body to request the Government to provide, through the competent authorities, additional information as to the facts which led to the prosecution of these workers on charges of seizure of property and crimes against the national economy, the text of the provisions governing these offences and the procedure followed before the military courts, together with the text of the judgements rendered with reasons annexed.