Definitive Report - REPORT_NO254, March 1988

1. 149. The complaint is contained in a communication from the National Federation of Driving Schools (FENAE) dated 6 February 1986. The Federation furnished further information and new allegations in communications dated 15 March, 31 October and 1 November 1986 and 21 July 1987. The Government replied in communications dated 29 May 1986 and 5 February, 14 July and 2 December 1987.
2. 150. Spain 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. 151. The National Federation of Driving Schools (FENAE) alleges that the General Directorate of Traffic of the Ministry of the Interior has been seeking to promote the creation of a parallel employers' federation under the control of the Administration so as to split up driving school operators. The FENAE adds that the General Directorate of Traffic and the bodies coming under it have a hostile attitude and refuse to hold discussions and to collaborate on matters of mutual interest either with the FENAE or with its provincial affiliate associations, despite the fact that the Federation is the most representative organisation which has been negotiating collective agreements at the state level for the driving school sector.
2. 152. As regards attempts to set up a parallel organisation, the FENAE states that the General Directorate of Traffic convened the provincial associations to a meeting held on 11 September 1985. According to the Federation, the meeting was held under such conditions that the representatives of its provincial associations had to withdraw and sign a document protesting at the manner in which the Director-General of Traffic had acted in failing to convene the Federation to the meeting, and in including on the agenda the subject "the problem of genuine discussion at the national level". Following the said meeting, the General Directorate of Traffic set up a management committee made up of public servants which convened a National Congress of Driving Instructors, which was held on 30 and 31 May 1986 (that is to say eight days after the Third National Congress of Driving Schools organised by the FENAE), with the aim of setting up an employers' organisation parallel to the Federation. The latter states that the subjects discussed at the Congress included "driving schools as enterprises; financial problems; and labour-management relations", that is to say matters pertaining specifically to management and labour. The FENAE adds that its affiliate associations were not invited, but that the members of these associations were invited individually. The latter withdrew in view of the attitude adopted by the General Director of Traffic during the preparations for the Congress. Those invited to the Congress included public servants and persons outside the sector.
3. 153. The FENAE states, in its latest communications, that through the so-called follow-up committees to the First Congress of Driving Instructors, the traffic services are interfering in the activities of the driving schools to promote the creation of a joint organisation made up of representatives of employers and workers, as well as public servants, that will be called the Autonomous Federation of Driving Schools. According to the FENAE, in the Baleares province a management committee of the said Autonomous Federation of Driving Schools has been formed. The FENAE encloses a copy of the review "Trafico", published by the General Directorate of Traffic in January 1987, containing an article headed "Towards an Autonomous National Federation", from which the following is an extract: Last Saturday, 20 December 1986, in the presence of a number of presidents of regional and provincial federations of driving school organisations, a management committee was set up to create a new association for members of this sector. So far this National Autonomous Federation of Driving Schools, as it is to be known, has set up its management committee to negotiate with the General Directorate of Traffic and identify the problems of driving instructors and their firms since "we do not consider the FENAE to be representative". The management committee drew up a three-point document setting out its democratic constitution, the general problems facing driving schools and proposals for resolving them. At the same time this new National Autonomous Federation of Driving Schools aims, as one of its first actions, to recover the assets, or the part of the assets corresponding to the FENAE and former employers' organisations, from those regional and provincial organisations belonging to them.

B. The Government's reply

1. 154. The Government states that the organisation of the First National Congress of Driving Instructors by the General Directorate of Traffic comes fully within the legal competence of the said Directorate. This was a conference on driving instruction and not a congress of driving schools, firms or operators, and consequently it was open to everyone who was connected with or interested in the activity of driving instruction, provided they registered and paid their expenses themselves. Of the 1,623 participants, a group of between 150 and 200 was made up of public servants who were connected with driving and came from various ministries to serve in an advisory capacity. The purpose of the Congress was to deal with a number of problems concerning driving instruction and to adopt conclusions that could be taken into account if driving instruction were to be regulated. The statement by the FENAE that its associations were not invited (it must be emphasised that no provincial or national association was invited), but that their members were invited on an individual basis is proof that the Congress was open to everyone involved in the sector so as to have the largest possible number of participants.
2. 155. The Government adds that it is wrong to maintain that the Congress was concerned mainly with labour matters. The principal subjects dealt with at the Congress, chosen freely by the management committee, were: "driving schools as teaching centres", "driving schools as enterprises - problems, financing and labour-management relations", and "legislation applicable to driving schools". It is obvious that labour-management questions and financial issues in the sector are closely related to the enterprise as a teaching centre.
3. 156. The Government goes on to say that the committees established to follow up the conclusions of the Congress of Driving Instructors should be looked at from this point of view and are proof that the Congress was not organised in vain since as a result of it the Administration undertook to implement its recommendations and to look further into the subjects thought to require further study.
4. 157. The Government recalls that it was decided to hold the Congress of Driving Instructors at a meeting which was held at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Traffic on 11 September 1985 between representatives of the said General Directorate and of associations of private driving schools. The Government has furnished a summary of the discussions at the meeting and of the agreements adopted, stating in particular the following:
   • "Before considering the agenda, note was taken of a communication to the General Directorate from the Executive Board of the National Federation of Driving Schools (FENAE) stating that it considered the holding of the Congress to be illegal and contrary to the Constitution. The FENAE maintained that it implied interference in the internal affairs of the Federation since the latter's affiliate associations were being invited without its knowledge and independently of it.
   • Telegrams were read out that had been sent to the General Directorate by the Presidents of the Provincial Associations of Driving Schools of Cuidad Real, Granada, Guipúzcoa, Palencia, Segovia, Seville, Soria and Zamora, stating that they wished to be represented 'for all purposes' by the President of the National Federation of Driving Schools.
   • Since, despite this, the Presidents of the said provincial associations attended the meeting, they were asked to explain their position because, whilst on the one hand they had stated that they would be represented for all purposes by the President of the National Federation - who did not attend - on the other hand they themselves did attend, which was obviously contradictory.
   • The Director-General made the following points rebutting the written statement of the Executive Board of the National Federation of Driving Schools: that the General Directorate of Traffic could have direct relations with the provincial associations, which remain autonomous whether or not they are federated, that its representatives were free to remain or to leave, but that they should clarify their position and publicly resolve the confusing situation that had arisen.
   • After the representative of the Provincial Association of Avila, had spoken, these representatives decided of their own free will to leave the meeting.
   • Following speeches by the Director and the representatives of other associations, some of whom (Las Palmas and Zaragoza) asked for it to be placed on record that they considered that discussions should be held with the FENAE, the items on the agenda were discussed and the following summarised agreement was reached:
   • To hold a national congress of driving schools at which all the problems affecting the sector would be discussed. Prior to the national congress special days would be held at provincial or regional levels. For this purpose a management committee was established, made up, in addition to representatives of the General Directorate of Traffic, of representatives of the Association of Driving Schools of the Province of Madrid, the Association of Driving Schools of the Province of Jaén, the Union of Driving School Operators of Asturias, the Union of Directors and Operators of Driving Schools of the City and Province of Valencia, the Associations of Driving Instructors of León, Jaén and the National Co-ordinating Committee of the Associations of Driving Schools, as well as representatives of the UGT, USO and APTTAE and an independent member of the branch."
5. 158. The Government, which recognises the difficulties of dialogue between the General Directorate of Traffic and the FENAE (though stating that it is not true that the traffic authorities refuse to deal with associations affiliated to the FENAE) and describes relations between the two as unfriendly, concludes by stating that it does not deny the representativity of the FENAE, that it is not true that the General Directorate of Traffic is interfering in the driving school sector by setting up a federation of driving schools dominated and controlled by the Administration and even less true that meetings are being held to this end. The Government supplies the text of a ruling by the Court of the Province of Madrid, dated 20 September 1986, rejecting an application by the FENAE for the suspension of the Congress organised by the General Directorate of Traffic on the grounds of alleged anti-union activities.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 159. The Committee observes that the complainant organisation refers mainly to attempts by the Administration to set up an organisation of driving schools that would replace the National Federation of Driving Schools (a federation of employers' associations), in particular by organising a National Congress of Driving Instructors in May 1986 and establishing follow-up committees to this Congress. The Committee observes that the Government denies these allegations.
2. 160. The Committee notes the Government's explanations concerning the nature, legal framework, functioning and purpose of the said Congress of Driving Instructors and its follow-up committees, and in particular the fact that no association was invited since it was a congress open to all involved in driving instruction who registered and met the expenses themselves. The Committee also observes that the Court of the Province of Madrid, in a ruling of 20 September 1986, rejected the application of the FENAE for the Congress to be suspended on account of alleged anti-union activities.
3. 161. In view of the foregoing and of the fact that there was nothing to prevent participation by leaders of the FENAE or of their provincial associations in the Congress in question, the Committee considers that the complainant organisation has not proved that there was interference by the authorities with a view to setting up a new organisation.
4. 162. Nevertheless the Committee regrets that at the meeting of 11 September 1985 - at which it was agreed to hold the Congress - the competent authorities invited, inter alia, national-level trade union organisations and provincial employers' associations affiliated to the FENAE, but not the FENAE itself, despite the fact that the Government has stated that it does not deny the Federation's representativity. In these circumstances, noting the difficulties as regards dialogue and the tension existing between the General Directorate of Traffic and the FENAE, the Committee emphasises the importance it attaches to the promotion of dialogue and consultations on matters of mutual interest between the public authorities and the most representative occupational organisations of the sector involved. The Committee expresses the hope that relations between the General Directorate of Traffic and the FENAE will become easier in the future and that a climate of collaboration and mutual trust will develop.