Report in which the committee requests to be kept informed of development - Report No 382, June 2017

1. 190. The complaint is contained in a communication dated 3 August 2016 from the National Union of Contract Public Teachers of Cameroon (SYNAEEPCAM).
2. 191. The Government sent its observations in a communication dated 3 November 2016.
3. 192. Cameroon has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98) and the Workers’ Representatives Convention, 1971 (No. 135).

A. The complainant’s allegations

1. 193. In its communication of 3 August 2016, the complainant states that it did not receive its registration certificate until nine months after all of the procedural requirements set out in section 11 of the Labour Code had been met. The certificate was received on 4 August 2015 but, according to the complainant, the current General Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and trade union registrar is considering cancelling it in violation of Article 4 of Convention No. 87. The complainant maintains that the General Secretary summoned the leaders of SYNAEEPCAM to a meeting held on 5 August 2016 in order to, in the words used in the summons, examine its “administrative file”.
2. 194. The complainant alleges that the results of the 2016 social election were flawed owing to the local labour administration’s deliberate wish to ignore the records of the election of many staff representatives who were SYNAEEPCAM members in several of Cameroon’s regions and departments: an attempt to conceal records attesting to the election of (i) 1,000 SYNAEEPCAM members in the department of Manyu, Southwest Region; (ii) 384 SYNAEEPCAM members in the department of Meme, Southwest Region; and (iii) 832 SYNAEEPCAM members in the department of Maritime Sanaga, Littoral Region. The complainant maintains that high-level Ministry of Labour and Social Security officials manipulated and even intimidated the heads of government bodies in several areas where SYNAEEPCAM had nominated candidates, forcing them to send them documentation after the deadline in order to justify the failure to take the election records into account.
3. 195. The complainant alleges that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security Decree of 11 July 2016, attesting to the rankings of the trade union confederations at the national level, prevented the Trade Union Confederation “Entente” from being attributed the election results obtained by its affiliate, SYNAEEPCAM, and thus does not reflect the true representativeness of Cameroon’s trade union confederations.
4. 196. With respect to the aforementioned trade union elections in the department of Mezam, Northwest Region, the complainant also reports that on 30 March and 5 April 2015, a local union representative, Mr Innocent Ngwa Folum, received from his supervisor, the departmental representative of the Ministry of Primary Education, two requests for an explanation which were unrelated to his work but which, the complainant claims, were sent for the sole purpose of intimidating him because he was a member of SYNAEEPCAM and, as such, had carried out trade union activities.
5. 197. Lastly, the complainant maintains that there is widespread fraud within the labour administration, which has registered spurious trade unions, and that it has referred the case to the courts, alleging forgery and misappropriation of public funds.

B. The Government’s reply

1. 198. In a communication dated 3 November 2016, the Government denies the allegation that it created additional red tape in order not to issue SYNAEEPCAM a registration certificate. It explains that it has embarked on a clean-up of the trade union movement, which had been demanded and supported by the union leaders, in order to have an accurate, updated and reliable trade union registry. It states that while certifying the documents contained in the unions’ applications for registration following their verification by the Ministry of Justice at the request of the trade union registrar, specifically in the case of the extracts from court records submitted by SYNAEEPCAM, it was discovered that those extracts were forgeries. The Government states that section 13(1) of the Labour Code authorizes the registrar to cancel a union’s registration if its registration certificate has been fraudulently obtained but that the Government took no steps in that regard, preferring to invite the National President of the union to a meeting held on 5 August 2016 in order to review its official file, but that the union leader refused this invitation.
2. 199. Concerning the trade union elections, the Government states that on 13 January 2016, the Ministry of Labour and Social Security decided to hold the elections for staff representatives on 1 March and 8 April 2016 and to organize the electoral campaign. Joint departmental, regional and national committees were established in order to collect the ballots and verify and analyse the results in order to ensure the accuracy, equity and credibility of the election.
3. 200. The Government reports that when the ballots cast during the trade union elections held on 1 March and 8 April 2016 – in which SYNAEEPCAM participated and the results of which were announced by the Joint National Committee at meetings held on 23 March and 26 May 2016 – were counted, the trade union, which is an affiliate of the Trade Union Confederation “Entente”, made the dubious claim that over 4,000 of its members had been elected staff representatives, making it the country’s most representative trade union confederation. The Government explains that this unprecedented performance in an election by a newly established union was vigorously challenged by the members of the Joint National Committee, in particular by its worker and employer members, and that the local administrative authorities involved in the election also drew the attention of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to instances of manipulation and fraud by the union in question.
4. 201. The Government explains that the Joint National Committee then instructed its President to send three teams to the regions in which fraud was alleged to have occurred in order to verify the authenticity of the challenged election records and that the findings submitted by these teams mention major inconsistencies, falsified records, artificial expansion of the election rolls and other manoeuvres orchestrated by the trade union. On this point, the Government emphasizes that at a meeting held on 26 May 2016, the Joint National Committee recommended that: (i) the procedure for cancelling SYNEEEPCAM’s registration certificate be initiated; and (ii) in future, any confederation that tampers with the accuracy and credibility of an election through illegal and fraudulent practices be penalized.
5. 202. With respect to the alleged registration of spurious organizations, the Government states that the case mentioned by the complainant, which concerns a specific trade union confederation, is under investigation by the courts and that it will keep the Committee informed of the outcome of those proceedings.

C. The Committee’s conclusions

1. 203. The Committee notes that the complainant’s allegations concern: (i) the conditions under which SYNAEEPCAM’s registration certificate was granted and the threat to dissolve it, whereas other organizations are accorded preferential treatment by the Government; (ii) the results of the 2016 trade union elections, the mechanism used to determine the representativeness of the country’s trade union confederations; and (iii) intimidation of a SYNAEEPCAM representative.
2. 204. With regard to the registration procedure, the Committee notes that it took over nine months and that the Government provides no explanation of the slowness of this administrative process. As it has received no information on this point, the Committee would like to recall that a long registration procedure constitutes a serious obstacle to the establishment of organizations and amounts to a denial of the right of workers to establish organizations without previous authorization [see Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, fifth (revised) edition, 2006, para. 307].
3. 205. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government to the effect that during the process of certifying the documents contained in trade unions’ applications for registration – which, in the case of SYNAEEPCAM, was initiated after the registration certificate had been issued – the trade union registrar requested the Minister of Justice to verify the authenticity of the extracts from court records submitted by SYNAEEPCAM and that the results of this ministerial inquiry revealed that those extracts were forgeries. While noting that the registrar did not avail himself of his prerogatives under article 13(1) of the Labour Code, which authorizes registrars to cancel a union’s registration where its registration certificate has been fraudulently obtained, the Committee recalls that the dissolution of trade union organizations is a measure which should only occur in extremely serious cases; such dissolutions should only happen following a judicial decision so that the rights of defence are fully guaranteed [see Digest, op. cit., para. 699].
4. 206. Concerning the failure to take into account some election records that were favourable to SYNAEEPCAM, and thus to the Trade Union Confederation “Entente” of which it is an affiliate, the Committee notes that, according to the information and documents provided by the Government, the Joint National Committee, a tripartite body responsible for collecting the ballots and verifying and analysing the results of the staff representative elections held on 1 March and 8 April 2016, found major inconsistencies and, as a result, did not take the challenged election records into account. Recalling that cases in which the results of trade union elections are challenged must be referred to the judicial authorities in order to guarantee an impartial, objective and expeditious procedure [see Digest, op. cit., para. 442], the Committee observes that in this case, SYNAEEPCAM did not challenge the results of the trade union elections before the courts and requests it to indicate the reasons for not doing so.
5. 207. With respect to the allegation that a local union representative, Mr Innocent Ngwa Folum, received from his supervisor, the departmental representative of the Ministry of Primary Education, two requests for an explanation which were made for the sole purpose of intimidating him because he was a member of SYNAEEPCAM and his activities related to the abovementioned trade union elections, the Committee requests the complainant organization to provide additional information on the actions taken by the departmental representative.
6. 208. Lastly, the Committee takes note of the allegation that one trade union was accorded preferential treatment with regard to the registration procedure whereas SYNAEEPCAM claims to be the subject of harassment. The Committee observes that this issue has been referred to the national courts and that the proceedings are ongoing. It requests the Government to inform it of the outcome of those proceedings.