Interim Report - Report No 243, March 1986

1. 570. The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) presented complaints of violations of trade union rights against the Government of Colombia in communications dated 8 July and 3 December 1985. The Trade Union Confederation of Colombian Workers (CSTC) presented additional information in a communication dated 20 August 1985. The Government sent its observations in letters dated 9 and 30 August, 23 October and 18 December 1985.
2. 571. Colombia has ratified 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).

A. The complainants' allegations

• (a) Allegations concerning the events of 20 June 1985
  572. 572 In its letter of 8 July 1985, the WFTU alleges that on 20 June 1985, following the National Day of Protest, government forces detained hundreds of workers, a great number of whom are still being held in prisons. Furthermore, the Government arbitrarily suspended the legal personality of the following trade union organisations: CSTC, the National Federation of State Employees (FENALTRASE), the National Federation of Colombian Bank Trade Unions (FENASIBANCOL), the Federation of Workers' Unions in Public Undertakings (FENASINTRAP) and the National Union of Workers in the Registrar's and Notary's Offices. It also states that the trade union USITRAS is being persecuted by government forces. It claims that the administrative suspension of the legal personality of the trade unions organising the National Day of Protest is a flagrant violation of Convention No. 87.
  573. 573 In its communication of 20 August 1985, the CSTC attaches copies of the Resolutions issued by the Ministry of Labour on 24 June 1985 suspending the legal personality of the CSTC, FENALTRASE, FENASIBANCOL and the Trade Union of Workers of the National Administrative Statistics Department SINDANE (Resolutions Nos. 01922, 01923, 01924 and 01926, respectively) and copies of the appeals presented by these unions to the Minister of Labour against the Resolutions. It also attaches copies of Resolutions Nos. 02205 and 02129 issued by the Ministry of Labour authorising the dismissal - on grounds of participation in the illegal strike of 20 June - of workers in, respectively, the Vianini Entrecanales undertaking (on which were based letters of dismissal concerning Messrs. Rafael Mauriao Mendoza Aguilar, Pedro Antonio Rodriguez Rojas and Pablo Emilio Leal Cruz) and in the Colombian Tobacco Company (on which were based the dismissal of Messrs. Jairo Bernal, Rolando López, Alirio Useche, Reinaldo Medina, Jorge Rey, Jaime Cepeda, Orlando Camacho, Jorge Nelson Murcia, Fernando Acosta, Jairo Lesmes Bulla, Humberto Riano and Justo Calderón).
• (b) Allegations concerning the death of two trade union leaders 574. In its communication of 3 December 1985, the WFTU alleges that on 28 November 1985 the police forces assassinated in Manizales City the trade union leaders Hernando Llata Bonilla, President of the Municipal Council in San Juan de Arma, and Rubin Dario Castaño, President of the Trade Union Federation of Caldas.

B. The Government's replies

• (a) Replies concerning the events of 20 June 1985 575. In its letter of 9 August 1985, the Government explains that the suspension of the legal personality of the organisations concerned was due to conduct contrary to the law when they called a strike on 20 June to disturb public order. It also emphatically denies the allegation that hundreds of workers were detained.
  576. 576 In its communication of 30 August 1985, the Government states that on 20 June only one (CSTC) of the four workers' confederations in the country called for a national strike while the other three had been for some time in direct dialogue with the President with a view to finding solutions to the delicate economic situation and had been involved in joint commissions. According to the Government, the studies undertaken by the commissions had already recommended measures for immediate adoption e.g., the price freeze on some essential products. Thus Decree No. 1658 of 19 June 1985 (in force for one year) set out sanctions (six months' suspension of legal personality) to be applied to the unions involved in any way in the work stoppage, in accordance with the Government's constitutional obligation to preserve public order. Six unions ignored this Decree and organised the stoppage which, according to the Government, was not related to labour issues (CSTC, FENALTRASE, FENASIBANCOL, FENASINTRAP, SINDANE, National Union of Workers in the Registrar's and Notary's Offices).
  577. 577 The Government points out that in normal circumstances, section 380 of the Labour Code prohibits the administrative suspension of the legal personality of trade unions. However, in exceptional situations of states of emergency, such as described in this case, the President is empowered to act to preserve threatened or real disturbances of law and order. The warning issued by the Government in its Decree aimed at protecting trade unionism from being used by subversive groups for non-occupational aims, such as damage to the economy and paralysis of transport.
  578. 578 According to the Government, only these six organisations were penalised since the vast majority of private and public employees continued to work normally on 20 June. It states that the public supported the Government's measures with exemplary solidarity. It concludes by reiterating that this was not trade union activity properly speaking, but serious subversion rejected by the population and the majority of Colombian workers' confederations; the events accordingly fall outside the Committee's mandate.
  579. 579 In its communication of 23 October 1985, the Government reiterates that Decree No. 1658 was passed in a state of emergency brought about by the strike which was clearly aimed at disturbing public order. It states that the sanctions on the six organisations have now been lifted and their legal personality restored. In addition, the vast majority of the persons detained on 20 June have been released and only ten are serving prison sentences after having been tried.
• (b) Reply concerning the death of two trade union leaders
  580. 580 As regards the alleged murder of Messrs. Llata and Castaño in Manizales City, in a communication dated 18 December 1985, the Government expresses its deep regret at the death of these persons and states that the military authorities of the Department of Caldas have been requested to supply information urgently on the circumstances of these deaths which apparently took place on 28 November 1985. It undertakes to transmit this information to the ILO immediately upon receipt by the Ministry.

C. The Committee's conclusions

• (a) The events of 20 June 1985
  581. 581 The Committee notes that the administrative suspension of the six trade union organisations which called and participated in the National Day of Protest on 20 June 1985 was lifted in October 1985, two months earlier than the expiry dates of the suspension Resolutions.
  582. 582 While noting the Government's explanation of the necessity for such measures at that time (emergency situation, threats to public order, subversive nature of the work stoppage, lack of popular support, fruitful on-going dialogue between the Government and the other three major union confederations), the Committee would recall the importance which it attaches to the principle that workers' and employers' organisations should not be subject to suspension or dissolution by administrative authority (see, for example, 230th Report, Case No. 1194 (Chile), para. 291). Moreover, in similar cases, the Committee has considered that suspension by the Ministry of Labour of the legal personality of a union - legal personality being one of the conditions enabling the union to function legally - is contrary to the above principle (see, for example, 214th Report, Case No. 1075 (Pakistan), para. 691).
  583. 583 Even when special circumstances have been cited by governments, the Committee has maintained that any measures of suspension or dissolution by administrative authority, when taken during an emergency situation, should be accompanied by normal judicial safeguards, including the right of appeal to the courts against such dissolution or suspension. Measures taken to withdraw the legal personality of a trade union should be taken through judicial and not administrative action. In the present case, the Committee notes that the six affected unions appealed to the Minister of Labour against the withdrawal of legal personality and that no judicial appeal was available. It accordingly considers that the action taken was contrary to Article 4 of Convention No. 87, ratified by Colombia.
  584. 584 As regards the alleged detention of hundreds of workers during the National Day of Protest, the Committee observes that the Government first denies this, then (in a later communication) states that of the persons detained on that day, the vast majority have been released and only ten are serving prison sentences after having been tried. The Committee regrets that neither the complainants nor the Government have supplied sufficiently detailed information concerning these alleged arrests or the circumstances in which they are said to have occurred.
  585. 585 The Committee notes that the Government makes no comment on the dismissal, by virtue of Resolutions Nos. 02205 and 02129, of 15 named workers in the Vianini Entrecanales undertaking and the Colombian Tobacco Company, respectively. It accordingly requests the Government to send its detailed observations so that the Committee may be able to examine this aspect of the case in full knowledge of the facts.
• (b) Death of two trade union leaders
  586. 586 As regards the alleged murder by the police of Messrs. Llata Bonilla and Dario Castaño in Manizales City on 28 November 1985, the Committee notes that the Government has undertaken an investigation and will transmit further information immediately it is available. The Committee accordingly adjourns this aspect of the case to await the Government's further observations.