Interim Report - Report No 253, November 1987

1. 343. In a communication dated 25 March 1987, the ICFTU submitted a complaint of infringement of trade union rights in Ecuador.
2. 344. The Government sent its observations in a communication dated 15 July 1987.
3. 345. Ecuador 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 complainant's allegations

1. 346. In its communication dated 25 March 1987, the ICFTU explains that its affiliate organisation in Ecuador, the Ecuadorian Confederation of Free Trade Union Organisations (CEOSL), together with other national trade union confederations, called a national strike on 25 March 1987 to protest against the excessive increase in fuel prices and transport costs. According to the ICFTU, the Government, on the grounds of this national strike, ordered the arrest of the Secretary-General of the CEOSL, Julio Chang and other trade unionists.

B. The Government's reply

1. 347. In its communication of 15 July 1987, the Government points out that on 5 and 6 March 1987, there were three serious earthquakes which affected a large part of the country, resulting in loss of life and property and bringing oil production (the country's major trade export) to a halt, as a large stretch of the trans-Ecuadorian pipeline was destroyed; this caused a sudden situation in which the national economy threatened to collapse. The Government, the communication continues, coped with the emergency situation as best it could to ensure that the country could continue functioning in spite of the immediate consequences of the disaster.
2. 348. The Government adds that, in view of the disasterous situation which had occurred and which threatened to paralyse the national economy, it was bound, in fulfilling its obligations to govern, to take some measures to create emergency resources (so to be able to pay the salaries of public servants, amongst other things) and improve the capacity of the remaining system of production. As part of these measures, it was necessary to raise the price of petrol to the equivalent of 46 American cents or 75 Swiss centimes per gallon (4 litres), i.e. 11 American cents or 18 Swiss centimes per litre. Furthermore, it was vital to release foreign currency and float the bank interest rate, because the State was incapable of continuing to subsidise exchange rates and the fixed interest rate.
3. 349. The Government's communication adds that confronted with this situation, the "executive" of the trade union confederations did not adopt a responsible attitude. Mr. Fausto Dután, substitute member of the National Congress, representing the Broad Left Front (FADI), took over the presidency of the Workers' Unitarian Front (FUT) and announced the list of claims of the forthcoming strike which advocated: i)there should be no payment of the foreign debt; (ii) the oil industry should be nationalised; (iii) primary commodities should only be marketed by ENAC and ENPROVIT (state marketing enterprises) in order to maintain a price balance; (iv) land should be handed over to the peasants. Furthermore, it demanded that the Head of State should be put on trial and resign and that the decision to increase fuel prices should be revoked.
4. 350. The Government points out that this case has nothing to do with a "strike", because in Ecuadorian labour law a strike means "a collective suspension of work by employees acting in combination"; a strike is authorised "if a dispute arises between an employer and his employees", and this is submitted to the conciliation and arbitration tribunal. It may only be declared in the following cases: "(1) if the employer, after being notified of the employees' demands, fails to reply within the statutory time or gives a negative reply; (2) if the employer, after being notified, dismisses or gives notice of dismissal to one or more employees, or gives notice of the termination of an agreement ...", except "in the case of the dismissal of an employee who has committed an act of violence against the property of the undertaking or factory or against the person of the employer or his agent; (3) if no conciliation and arbitration tribunal is appointed within the time specified in section 466 or if, having been appointed, the tribunal for any reason does not meet within three days of its appointment, on condition in either case that the failure is not the fault of the members designated by the employees; (4) if conciliation proves impossible or no award is issued within the time allowed by section 473". Strikes are only guaranteed by the Constitution and the Labour Code subject to these conditions. However, this concept of strike action is so wide that it authorises strikers to remain in the factories, workshops or workplaces concerned (unique in world labour legislation), under police protection against the entry of agitators and strike breakers; it entitles strikers to receive remuneration and authorises solidarity strikes: "The law also recognises the right to strike where the object is to support a lawful strike declared by the employees of another undertaking." A lawful general strike might arise because employees in one undertaking support a strike in another undertaking, which is being conducted in accordance with the law, and this spreads to all undertakings throughout the country.
5. 351. But this is not the case here, the Government continues in its communication, because on 25 March 1987 political leaders of various opposition parties illegally interpreted "freedom of association" in their own way. These same political leaders head trade union confederations grouped together in the Workers' Unitarian Front, whilst also participating in the Ecuadorian Revolutionary Youth Movement, the Workers' Revolutionary Movement, the General Union of Workers or the Popular Front. Similarly, they collaborate with these real or fictitious organisations, with the FEUE and the UNE and various clandestine groups who are openly committed to violence. These persons, in interpreting freedom of association in their own way, prevented the free movement of vehicles and pedestrians and normal activities within the city by raising obstacles and barricades in the streets, destroying traffic signs, public clocks and rubbish bins and tearing up the paving on the streets.
6. 352. The Government's communication also describes the outcome of the above-mentioned strike; in particular, it notes that: citizens and members of the police and their vehicles were stoned; tyres were burnt, in Esmeralda, stores and private houses were stormed and several establishments burnt; in Quito, as a result of the storming of the Hotel Colón Internacional and the Finance Corporation with incendiary bombs, there was a threat of fire in the first floors of the hotel and the windows of both buildings were shattered; the premises of the Employers' and Workers' Association of the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources were attacked with incendiary bombs; and in Quito, an incendiary bomb was thrown at a van transporting a group of young conscripts doing their national military service, some of whom suffered injuries and burns. In the capital city, the strikers killed hundreds of dogs, scorching them in the fire and then hanging them from the branches of trees and on lamp-posts. At the end of the day of 25 March, the strikers declared that the "tenth general strike" organised by the FUT had been "victorious". Several FUT officials tried, later, to deny their responsibility for the shameful actions of 25 March and put the blame on "maladjusted elements"; some even accused the Government itself. In its communication, the Government encloses various cuttings of opinions and reports in the Ecuadorian press on the incidents which occurred before and during the strike.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 353. The Committee notes that the complainant's allegations concern the arrest of the Secretary-General of the Ecuadorian Confederation of Free Trade Union Organisations (CEOSL) and other trade unionists, because they called a national strike on 25 March 1987 to protest against the increase of fuel prices and transport costs.
2. 354. The Committee notes the Government's explanations concerning the special circumstances which gave rise to the increase in fuel prices and transport costs. The Committee notes that the Government raises the political aspect of some of the claims put forward by the trade union confederations, as well as the unlawful character of the strike. The Committee regrets that in the course of the strike, violent and disorderly incidents occurred.
3. 355. As regards the alleged arrest of the Secretary-General of the CEOSL, Julio Chang, and other trade unionists, as a result of the national strike held on 25 March 1987, the Committee regrets that the Government in its observations failed to submit any information on whether or not the trade unionists concerned were detained, on the actual reasons for their arrest and on whether legal proceedings had been instigated against them. The Committee therefore requests the Government to send it specific information on these allegations.