Seguimiento dado a las recomendaciones del Comité y del Consejo de Administración - Informe núm. 326, Noviembre 2001

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 19. The Committee last examined this case concerning allegations of the failure to engage in collective bargaining, exclusive bargaining with higher level trade union organizations, discrimination against trade union officers and insufficient protection against arbitrary dismissal at its June 2001 meeting [see 325th Report, paras. 182-196]. On that occasion the Committee made the following recommendations:
   • (a) The Committee requested the Government to keep it informed of the outcome of the projected negotiations on the participation of employees of Banco do Brasil S.A. concerning profit-sharing arrangements.
   • (b) The Committee recalled that according to the principle of free and voluntary collective bargaining embodied in Article 4 of Convention No. 98, the determination of the bargaining level was essentially a matter to be left to the discretion of the parties. The Committee also emphasized that the imposition by law of a trade union monopoly was not compatible with the principles of freedom of association, and therefore urged the Government to ensure that national law was brought into conformity with those principles.
   • (c) Although the Committee did not consider the reduction in the number of trade union representatives authorized to carry out their duties at the cost of the enterprise to be contrary to the principles of freedom of association, given that it was the result of collective bargaining, it requested the Government to prevent any discrimination between trade unions in that context.
2. 20. In a communication dated 16 August 2001, the Government informs the Committee that in the past two months Banco do Brasil has held various meetings with its employees on their sharing in the profits and results of the enterprise. It states that it will continue to endeavour to reach an agreement with legally authorized trade unions.
3. 21. With regard to the trade union monopoly, the Government reiterates that it does not discriminate between trade unions by negotiating exclusively with CONTEC, according to which CTNIF is neither legal nor constitutionally competent to represent employees at the negotiations. The Government also states that as the Constitution prohibits the establishment of more than one trade union organization at any level representing a professional or economic category in the same territorial division, CONTEC requested in law that the registration of CTNIF as a trade union be cancelled, and this took place on 18 December 2000.
4. 22. Finally the Government states that, according to national legislation, trade union leaders at the Banco do Brasil have paid time off to carry out their trade union duties, entirely at the cost of the enterprise according to the collective agreements that the enterprise holds with its trade union bodies. The Government adds that of the 92 trade union leaders with paid time off to carry out their trade union duties at the cost of the enterprise, 30 are members of CONTEC and 62 are members of trade unions that are not affiliated to the latter.
5. 23. The Committee takes due note of this information. It notes that 62 of the 92 trade union leaders at the Banco do Brasil belong to trade unions that are not affiliated with CONTEC. However, it deplores that the CTNIF was struck from the trade union registry and invites the Government to take the necessary measures to repeal the provisions setting forth a trade union monopoly.