Interim Report - REPORT_NO174, March 1978

COMPLAINT CONCERNING THE OBSERVANCE BY URUGUAY OF 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), PRESENTED BY A NUMBER OF DELEGATES TO THE 61st SESSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE (1976) UNDER ARTICLE 26 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION

• COMPLAINT CONCERNING THE OBSERVANCE BY URUGUAY OF 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), PRESENTED BY A NUMBER OF DELEGATES TO THE 61st SESSION OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE (1976) UNDER ARTICLE 26 OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION
  5. 5 The Committee has already examined this case on several occasions, the most recent being in May 1977, when it presented the interim conclusions contained in its 170th Report, which was devoted entirely to outstanding complaints concerning Uruguay. The Governing Body approved this report at its 203rd Session (May-June 1977).
  6. 6 It will be recalled that in addition to the allegations submitted to the Committee by several trade union organisations, three delegates to the 61st Session (June 1976) of the International Labour Conference presented a complaint under article 26 of the ILO Constitution, to the effect that the Government of Uruguay was failing to ensure the observance of 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). These instruments have been ratified by Uruguay.
  7. 7 Since the last examination of this case by the Committee, new allegations have been received from the complainants, in the following communications: two communications (of 11 and 14 July 1977) from the International Union of Food and Allied Workers' Associations, a communication (of 28 July 1977) from the Trade Unions International of Chemical, Oil and Allied Workers, and a communication (of 15 September 1977) from the Textile, Clothing, Leather and Fur Workers' Trade Unions International.
  8. 8 These communications were sent to the Government as and when they were received. The Government submitted information in communications of 1 June, 7 and 14 October and 3 and 7 November 1977.

A. Last examination of this case by the Committee

1. 9. It should be recalled first of all that the conclusions submitted by the Committee in May 1977 followed a second direct contacts mission to the country, from 12 to 22 April 1977 by a representative of the Director-General.
2. 10. The Committee noted that there had been no change in the legal situation of trade unions since the representative of the Director-General carried out his first mission. Nevertheless, the factual situation had changed: there had been improvement in the situation of the unions affiliated to the General Confederation of Workers of Uruguay (CGTU) which had been able to perform certain internal activities (meetings, elections, etc.). On the other hand, the unions affiliated to the National Workers' Convention (CNT), which had been dissolved by the Government after the change of regime in 1973, appeared to remain to a large extent inactive; many of their leaders were detained, had left the country, or had been dismissed. The premises of certain unions were under police control, closed, under surveillance, etc. As for industrial relations activities, the extent of recognition of the unions of the CGTU and their leaders depended on whether or not they were on good terms with the employers or the heads of their public administrative services. On the contrary, the unions affiliated to the CNT did not appear to be recognised in either the private or the public sectors.
3. 11. The Government had once again indicated its concern for a return to a normal trade union situation. According to the Government, the delay in adopting new trade union legislation was due to the discovery of certain subversive activities in preparation, including the storage of arms (in which several trade unionists had taken part), to the political crisis of 1976 and to economic and political considerations. The Government considered that the trade union question was only part of the problem of the country's political institutions. Furthermore, the reduction of trade union activity and industrial peace had, according to it, contributed to certain economic progress being made it stated that it was preparing new trade union legislation, the main aspects of which were being studied, and it hoped that progress would be made during the year 1977.
4. 12. The Committee recalled that the Government had previously invoked considerations of a political and economic nature during the first mission of the representative of the Director-General to explain the restrictions placed on trade unions and their activities. The Committee expressed its concern that these considerations continued to hinder the re-establishment of a normal trade union situation. The Government possessed various legal means to deal with the subversive activities of specific persons. As for the problem of the political institutions in the country and their future evolution, the Committee considered that the workers' and employers' organisations had their proper and specific functions to perform, their object being to defend the occupational interests of their members. The requirements of development should not justify maintaining the entire trade union movement of a country in a legally irregular situation, thereby preventing the workers from exercising their trade union rights, as well as preventing organisations from carrying out their normal activities. A balanced economic and social development requires the existence of strong and independent organisations which can participate in the process. The Committee noted, in this connection, that all the members of the Government interviewed by the Director-General's representative and also the employers took the view that it was essential to have as interlocutors trade unions which defend the occupational interests of their members.
5. 13. The Committee added that the Government authorities and the employers should refrain from any discrimination between trade union organisations, especially as regards recognition of their leaders seeking to perform legitimate trade union activities. It recalled that, on the one hand, workers and their organisations were bound to respect the law and that, on the other hand, the law of the land should not be such as to impair, nor should it be so applied as to impair, the guarantees provided for in Convention No. 87. In placing certain organisations at a disadvantage where these organisations were carrying out legitimate activities, a government could influence workers in the choice of the organisation to which they might wish to belong, and if this were done deliberately, it would infringe the standards contained in the Convention and in particular the principle that workers have the right to establish and join organisations o€ their own choosing. In that connection the Committee noted, for example, that one trade union office remained closed although several persons who had taken part in illegal activities in that office were subsequently released by the military judge, that other offices remained guarded, closed, placed under supervision, etc. in spite of the time that had elapsed since the events which led to those measures, that no leader of any union affiliated to the CNT was recognised in practice either by the authorities or by the employers, that some of those leaders had been detained on a number of occasions for carrying out activities of a trade union nature and that all or several members of executive Committees of unions had been dismissed.
6. 14. The Committee noted that the joint Committees set up by decree of 15 February 1977 had not started to function in practice (whilst the elected members of a similar joint Committee, in the FUNSA undertaking, had taken over their functions). According to the Government, those Committees should be considered as representing a stage in the process of promulgating trade union legislation. While the Committee considered that those Committees could not replace trade union organisations, it was also of the view that the workers' representatives on those bodies should be freely elected and should not be liable to be dismissed from them unless they had committed an offence or carried out an illegal activity that would be prejudicial to the proper exercise of their functions as members of those Committees.
7. 15. Regarding the detention of trade unionists, the Committee noted, in particular, that according to the report of the Director-General's representative, there had been a decrease in the number of those detained on account of acts linked with trade union activities. The report also contained detailed information on the specific facts for which the remaining detained trade unionists, which he had been able to see, stood accused, or whose files he had been able to examine. These persons were: Bentaberry Benitez, Eugenio; Cayotta Zappettini, Victor Eugenio; Coitiho Cebey, Carlos Dioniso; Cuesta Villa Gerardo; Delgado Larrosa, Freddy; Fassano Martens, Carlos Ignacio; Genovese Cortazar, Omar Isaac; Gershuni Pérez, Jaime; Gonzalez Cardozo, Jorge Raúl; Güidotti Luscher, Luis; Iguini Ferreira, Luis Alberto; Marotta Rienzi, Antonio; Ormaechea de León, Juan Jose; Pérez Baccino, Didasko; Rezzano, Alicia Maria; Rodriguez da Silva, Hector Pio; Rubio Bruno, Enrique Vicente; Turiansky, Vladimir Ilitch; Viña, Beltram Pablo Camilo. The Committee noted that some of these persons had been arrested in connection with matters which could be considered as being linked to trade union activities. In the remaining cases, the information gathered, although incomplete, gave the impression that the criminal procedures set in motion by the authorities were aimed first of all at activities of a political character considered by the Government to endanger security and public order. The Director-General's representative pointed out, however, that some of the charges were linked to the activities of the CNT, which had been dissolved by the Government in 1973.
8. 16. The Committee noted the information provided in the report, on the allegations of ill-treatment of detained trade unionists. In particular, the information related to specific cases, which came to his attention, of brutality inflicted on prisoners who were subsequently accused of crimes of subversive association or giving assistance to subversive bodies. Moreover, the report continued, it could not be affirmed that these practices were systematic. According to the authorities, there were cases where officials were censured for such acts and, in the case of one prisoner who died, the guard responsible was prosecuted for culpable homicide.
9. 17. The Committee expressed its strong disapproval of any vexations or brutality inflicted on any prisoner, and called attention to the importance which it has always attached to the fact that trade unionists, like any other persons, are entitled to the guarantees of normal judicial procedure in accordance with the principles contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Committee had already referred to the question of ill-treatment in its 153rd Report, following the first visit of the Director-General's representative it insisted again that the Government take all the necessary steps, including not only specific instructions, but also the imposition of exemplary penalties, in order to guarantee that no person detained was subjected to ill-treatment. The Committee noted that, as indicated by the Director-General's representative, the authorities were making efforts to instruct the police in methods to ensure better treatment for persons during interrogation and at all other times.
10. 18. Consequently, the Governing Body had decided, on the Committee's recommendation:
    • (a) regarding the trade union situation, to draw the attention of the Government to the considerations set out in paragraphs 12 and 13, to urge it to proceed without delay to the restoration of a normal situation and to adopt, for this purpose, legislation which would be in conformity with the Conventions ratified by Uruguay;
    • (b) regarding the joint Committees, subject to the considerations expressed in paragraph 14, to point out that it is important to ensure the free election of workers' representatives in those Committees;
    • (c) regarding the detention of trade unionists, to note the information obtained from the Government by the representative of the Director-General on the acts of which the persons detained stood accused, and which, according to the Government, were linked to activities of a political character; to note also that several trade unionists who were being prosecuted had been released by the courts;
    • (d) to point out, however, the importance of no person being detained on account of his trade union activities and to request the Government to transmit, as soon as they were available, the texts of the judgements and the grounds adduced therefor, that are rendered in the cases of persons not already tried, referred to in paragraph 15;
    • (e) to note that there had again been several cases of brutality inflicted on prisoners: to note also the statement by the Government that efforts were being made to instruct the police in methods to ensure better treatment for detainees; to recall the importance it attached to the Government taking all the necessary steps, including not only specific instructions, but also the imposition of exemplary penalties, to guarantee that no person detained was subject to ill-treatment;
    • (f) to decide, taking account of the information provided by the representative of the Director-General, that it would not be appropriate at that stage to establish a Commission of inquiry in connection with the complaint presented under article 26 of the Constitution;
    • (g) to request the Government to transmit information on the development of the situation and on the trade union legislation.

B. Latest developments

1. 19. The International Union of Food and Allied Workers' Associations reported in its communications the arrest of Julio Garcia and Pedro Aldrovandi, trade union leaders in the milk and sugar industries, respectively. According to the complainants, the latter, who was admitted to hospital a short while ago for a hemiplegia, was arrested in Montevideo at the beginning of June, then transferred to the department of Salto. The Trade Unions International of Chemical, Oil and Allied Workers stated that reprisals had been taken against leaders and militants of its affiliated organisation, the Glass Workers' Federation of Montevideo. It gave the names of several persons who had already been mentioned in preceding complaints, and those of Oscar Rodriguez, Celestino Lopez and Julio Santos, works delegates. The Textile, Clothing, Leather and Fur Workers' Trade Unions: international reported the arrest and disappearance since the beginning of July 1977 of Juan Angel Toledo, secretary of the Textile Workers' Congress and member of the administrative Committee of the complainant organisation.
2. 20. The Government provided information or observations in its various communications on many persons regarding whom information had been requested from it in recent or older complaints. This information is summarised in the annex. In particular, it provided information on the state of progress of the court action undertaken against the trade unionists mentioned in paragraph 15, with the exception of Jorge Raul González Cardozo; no sentence has been pronounced since the visit of the Director-General's representative.
3. 21. The Government also recalled its earlier statements concerning the normalisation of occupational relations in accordance with the various items mentioned in its communication of 7 October 1976. It stated that it was devoting itself to the restructuration of the country's institutions and referred again to the moral vacuum, ideological infiltration and armed attack with which it had to deal and which constituted the reasons for the exceptional measures taken to protect the State and the country's historical continuity. Normalisation in occupational organisations, therefore, formed part, accordingly, of a wider context and, in order to be understood, the measures taken by the Government had to be analysed within the general framework of the political and institutional normalisation announced.
4. 22. As part of these measures, continued the Government, reference should be made to the Decree of 15 February 1977 setting up joint Committees at the level of private undertakings. Section 18 of that Decree was subsequently modified by the Decree of 15 August 1977 enabling the competent authorities to set up such Committees whenever they, think it appropriate in the public interest, in undertakings in which they had not been set up spontaneously. The Government's intention was that these Committees should serve as a stimulus for formation of the leadership necessary as part of the system required for the normalisation referred to. However, it continued, there also existed, as pointed out in the report of the Director-General's representative, an important trade union core which was at present operating correctly, performing its normal activities.
5. 23. The Government added that two facts confirmed its stated line of action:
   • (a) Act No. 14.407 of 22 July 1975 and its enabling Decree No. 7/76 of 8 January 1976 re-establish a Conventional sickness insurance system. This legislation provides for participation machinery with bipartite administration. Workers can express their desires through elections by secret ballot;
   • (b) a decree is to be passed shortly, setting up a bipartite consultative Committee for the merchant navy, which embodies the principles contained in the Placing of Seamen Convention, 1920 (No. 9). According to the Government, these two facts demonstrated its desire to adopt measures permitting the slow but sure regularisation of trade union organisations in the country.
6. 24. The Government added that it would keep the ILO fully informed of the measures taken in the future until trade union activity had finally been restored to normal. The measures already taken reflected the desire to give effect to the four basic principles guiding the building up of the new legislation in this field. The Government referred, amongst these, to the worker's recognised right to elect his representatives to serve on the various Committees referred to; the guarantee of a secret ballot, the occupational status of eligible workers, the consideration to be shown by these Committees for occupational problems, all of which showed serious and clear progress towards the new institutionalisation of occupational relations. The Government concluded that this should provide the best safeguard, since it was based not only on legislation, but also on practical experience within the country. The Government pointed out in its communication of 3 November 1977 that the question of trade unions was on the agenda of the meeting it would hold at the highest level as from 29 November 1977.
7. 25. In its latest communication of 7 November 1977 the Government stated, in particular, that the extraordinary general meeting of the CGTU had recently taken place and that it had elected a new executive council at that meeting.

C. Committee's conclusions

1. 26. The Committee takes note of the information supplied. The Government refers once again to the subversive activities with which it had to cope as an explanation for the exceptional measures taken and adds that the regularisation of trade union activity is to be analysed within the wider concept of political and institutional normalisation within the country. The Committee wishes to emphasise in this connection that although respect for freedom of association is closely bound up, as was stated by the International Labour Conference in 1970,2 with respect for civil liberties in general, it is nevertheless important, with this reservation, to distinguish between the recognition of freedom of association and questions relating to a country's political evolution. Neither should there be confusion between trade unions' performance of their specific functions, i.e. the defence and promotion of the occupational interests of workers, and the possible pursuit by certain of their members of other activities having nothing to do with trade union functions. The penal responsibility which such persons may incur by such acts should in no way result in measures amounting to depriving the unions themselves or their leaders of their means of action.
2. 27. The Committee regrets that despite the time which has elapsed the trade union organisations are still encountering serious difficulties. In particular, the trade union legislation announced on several occasions still has not been adopted. The Government points out, however, in its latest communication that the trade union question will be examined by it at the highest level as from 29 November 1977. The Committee takes note of this statement. It recalls that, in November 1975 already, the Governing Body had called the Government's attention, on the recommendation of the Committee, to the importance which it attached to the rapid adoption and application of trade union legislation in keeping with the provisions of Convention No. 87, which has been ratified by Uruguay, taking into account in particular the comments made by the Committee itself in a previous case and by the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations.
3. 28. The Committee considers that the continuing existence of serious divergences between the Conventions on freedom of association on the one hand and legislation and national practice on the other is a matter for great concern. It considers it urgent that the Government permit a return to normal trade union activity and remove the related legal and factual restrictions. The adoption and implementation of new trade union legislation would undoubtedly constitute a decisive step in this direction.
4. 29. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government regarding the detention of certain trade unionists. With particular reference to the persons whom the Director-General's representative was able to see and whose files he was able to examine during his last visit to Uruguay, no judgement has been rendered since that mission, although many of the persons in question have been imprisoned for many months, if not years. The Committee recalls that the Director-General's representative already noted, during his first visit to Uruguay, that initial inquiries and investigations were slow-moving. The Committee can but express its concern in view of the continuing existence of such a situation. It considers that although the fact of exercising trade union activity or holding trade union office does not give immunity from the application of normal penal law, the prolonged detention of trade unionists without them being promptly tried can constitute a serious handicap to the exercise of trade union rights.

Z. ANNEX

• Information concerning the trade unionists in respect of whom information has been requested from the Government
• Latest information communicated by the Government
  1. 1 Released:
• Delgado Larrosa, Freddy.
  2. 2 Released with certain restrictions:
• Cayotta Zappettini, Victor Eugenio (provisional release)
• Genovese Cortazar, Omar Isaac (provisional release)
• Giacoia Sosa, Jorge Raúl (conditional release)
• Güidotti Luscher, Luis (provisional release)
• Santos Suarez, Julio César (conditional release)
• Viña, Beltram Pablo Camilo (provisional release).
  3. 3 Interned:
• Prada Rousse, Imer.
  4. 4 Court action is under way before the military tribunals for one or several of the following offences: subversive association, assistance to such an association or its members, violation of the Constitution, offence against the honour of the armed forces:
• Acosta Baladón, Ricardo Mario
• Albacete Pintos, Daniel
• Aldrovandi Castillo, Servando Pedro
• Alvariza Sanchez, Roque
• Barrios Ramos, Raúl Nestor
• Beltramio Diaz, Eduardo Mario
• Bentaberry Benitez, Eugenio
• Coitino Cebey, Carlos Dioniso
• Cuesta Villa, Gerardo
• Fassano Martens, Carlos Ignacio
• Gershuni Pérez, Jaime
• Iglesias, Juan Antonio
• Iguini Ferreira, Luis Alberto
• Lanza Perdomo, Alcides Martins
• Marotta Rienzi, Antonio
• Ormaechea de León, Juan José
• Pérez Baccino, Didasko
• Quinteros Bron, Julio César
• Raymondo Piaggio, Marcos Lider
• Rezzano, Raúl
• Rezzano, Alicia
• Rodríguez de Silva, Héctor Pio
• Rubio Bruno, Enrique Vicente
• Toledo, Juan Angel
• Turiansky, Vladimir Ilitch
  5. 5 An arrest warrant has been issued for:
• Betharte Martinez, Raúl.
  6. 6 The following do not appear in the records of detainees (the Government has asked for further information regarding them):
• Alonso, Heber (UTE trade union leader)
• Balbiani, Ramón (urban transport union leader)
• Camaño, Julio (UTE union leader)
• Castro, Rosario (glassworkers' union leader)
• Cazani, Hebert (trade union leader)
• Contreras, Eduardo (doctors' union leader)
• Courriel Curiel, Alberto (accountants' union leader)
• Garcia, Julio (milk-industry union leader)
• López, Celestino (glassworkers' works delegate)
• Quintana, José (UTE union leader)
• Rodríguez, Oscar (glassworkers' works delegate).
  7. 7 The Government has also asked for further information regarding the following persons:
• N de Cabrere, Luisa (press union leader)
• Campodónico, J.C. (municipal workers' union leader)
• Duarte, Tito (teachers' union leader)
• Iturriaga, L. (bank workers' union leader)
• Machado, A. (doctors' union leader)
• Martinez (railways workers' union leader)
• Trade unionists regarding whom the Government has not yet supplied information
• Santana, Dario (FUNSA undertaking union leader)
• Soria, Carlos (glassworkers' union leader)
• Toledo, Pedro (railways workers' union leader)
• Villalba (sea transport workers' union leader)
• Zorrón, Rogelio (UTE union leader).