Report in which the committee requests to be kept informed of development - REPORT_NO320, March 2000

1. 242. The complaint in this case appears in a communication from the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik DAL-BJSD of 19 November 1998. The complainant organization sent further information in communications dated 10 December 1998 and 1 April 1999. Public Service International (PSI) associated itself with the complaint in a communication dated 1 December 1998.
2. 243. The Government sent its observations in communications dated 19 April, 2 June and 31 October 1999.
3. 244. Bangladesh 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. 245. In its communications, the complainant alleges that Mr. Zafrul Hassan, the elected General Secretary of the trade union Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik DAL-BJSD and member of the PSI Executive Board, as well as several of his colleagues, have repeatedly been denied the right to leave their country to attend meetings of the PSI.
2. 246. The complainant explains that the management of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), a governmental organization, has refused on several occasions to grant permission to Mr. Zafrul Hassan, as well as to several of his colleagues, in order for them to attend PSI meetings held abroad, and this, despite various letters of complaints and meetings with the relevant government representatives. The complainant states further that the PSI General Secretary himself met with the Labour Minister to discuss the issue in order to try to find a solution but no progress has been made in the matter.
3. 247. In addition, the complainant states that, in the past two years, hundreds of union leaders and active workers all over the country have been harassed, transferred and victimized by the BWDB. The complaint joins a list of 76 persons who were discriminated against on trade union grounds and difference of political opinions. The complainant adds that a good number of victimized persons on that list have challenged their transfer posting to the Labour Appeal Tribunal and that the court has stayed several of the transfer orders of the BWDB. The complainant also joins a list of 19 persons who had their transfer order stayed by the court. The BWDB has since only partly cancelled the transfer orders. The complainant claims that due to some unavoidable circumstances, some workers were compelled to join their new place of posting while others have been forced to withdraw their court case after joining the ruling party trade union.

B. The Government's reply

1. 248. In its communications of 19 April, 2 June and 31 October 1999, the Government provides its observations on the two issues raised by the complainant. Firstly, concerning the denial of permission to attend PSI events, the Government declares that there has never been a denial of permission to attend PSI events within Bangladesh. With respect to PSI events held outside Bangladesh, the Government explains that Mr. Zafrul Hassan was given permission on 23 occasions and only denied permission on five occasions due to exigencies of work since he is working as a supervisory officer in a vital power generating plant of BWDB. As far as his colleagues are concerned, 21 of them were permitted to attend 26 PSI events outside Bangladesh and only two of them, while they both attended events on several occasions, were not given permission on one occasion, again due to the exigencies of public service.
2. 249. With respect to the other allegations, the Government explains that the Bangladesh Water Development Board is a statutory organization which was established in 1972 for planning, implementation, operation and maintenance of various development projects of flood control, drainage and irrigation in the country. Its activities and offices are spread all over the country having a total number of about 14,000 employees. Services of the employees are transferable. Moreover, for administrative and operational needs of the organization, the periodical transfer of officers and employees is a regular and routine action. The Government points out that in the current process of reorganization, some new offices have been created, some merged and some abolished. This has also necessitated the transfer of employees from one office to another in order to absorb surplus employees against vacant positions in different offices, including newly created ones. The Government acknowledges that about 1,000 employees were transferred in the last two years belonging to various trade unions of BWDB, including the persons figuring on the list of 76 names provided by the complainant. However, the Government recalls that the relevant labour law of the country provides that the president and the general secretary of a registered trade union cannot be transferred without their consent. None of the said 76 employees was either president or general secretary of the Central Committee of the complainant organization. Moreover, the Government insists that these transfers have not curbed the rights of the concerned employees to participate and carry out trade union activities.
3. 250. In addition, the Government points out that the complainant failed to provide detailed information on the 76 persons such as their designation, name of the office where working, name of the office where transferred, etc. The Government declares that the competent authorities are willing to investigate these allegations and will be in a position to do so as soon as the president of the complainant organization provides the requested information.
4. 251. Concerning the case of the 19 employees, members of the complainant organization, who have filed cases in the court against the transfer orders, the Government denies that they were pressurized to withdraw their case and compelled to join the government-backed trade union of BWDB. After a thorough investigation into these allegations, it appeared that a large number of employees belonging to various trade unions of BWDB were transferred in the past year for administrative and operational needs without any pressure from any quarter. None of the 19 employees are either president or general secretary of the central committee of the complainant organization and thus they could be transferred to another post. The Government states that during the investigation, it appeared that none of these 19 employees have joined the government-backed trade union of BWDB. Finally, the Government insists that these transfers have not affected the rights of the employees to participate and carry out trade union activities and therefore that no restrictions have been imposed on their freedom of association either by BWDB or by the Government of Bangladesh.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 252. The Committee notes that this case relates to allegations of denial of the right of trade union officers to leave the country to participate in international trade union meetings as well as acts of anti-union discrimination, in particular the transfer in a different post of several trade unionists.
2. 253. With regard to the allegations of denial of the right of Mr. Zafrul Hassan and some of his colleagues to leave the country to attend PSI meetings abroad, the Committee notes the figures of 23 permissions and five refusals for Mr. Hassan, as well as one refusal for two of his colleagues. The Committee notes that the first refusal from the BWDB came in September 1997 while Mr. Hassan had been authorized to travel on four occasions that same year (Philippines, Japan and Switzerland twice). The other four refusals came in 1998. The Committee recalls that leaders of organizations of workers and employers should enjoy appropriate facilities for carrying out their functions, including the right to leave the country to attend international trade union meetings when their activities on behalf of the persons they represent so require; moreover, the free movement of these representatives should be ensured by the authorities (see Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, 4th edition, 1996, para. 637). In the present case, it does not appear that the Government has blatantly violated this principle, although the Committee does note a substantial increase in the refusals emanating from the BWDB in the last year. In this context, the Committee calls on the parties to come to an agreement on the frequency of attendance to such meetings by trade union leaders, which would also take into account the nature of their work and responsibilities within the organization.
3. 254. Concerning the allegations that a high number of union leaders and active workers have been harassed, transferred and victimized by the BWDB in the past two years, the Committee notes that the Government does acknowledge that the 76 persons who figure on the list provided by the complainant organization have indeed been transferred to other posts within the BWDB. In this regard, the Committee recalls that no person should be prejudiced in his or her employment by reason of trade union membership or legitimate trade union activities, even if that trade union is not recognized by the employer as representing the majority of workers concerned and it is important to forbid and penalize in practice all acts of anti-union discrimination in respect of employment. Protection against such acts should cover not only hiring and dismissal, but also measures during employment, in particular transfers, downgrading and other acts that are prejudicial to the worker (see Digest, op. cit., paras. 695 and 696). The Committee takes note of the Government's statement according to which for administrative and operational needs of the BWDB, the periodical transfer of officers and employees is a regular and routine action and in the context of restructuring of the organization, about 1,000 employees from various unions have been transferred in the last two years. The Committee also notes that the Government is willing to investigate the allegations of transfer and victimization for the 76 persons who figure on the complainant's list. However, regretting that the Government has not so far taken any action on this matter, the Committee requests the Government to swiftly conduct these investigations and to keep it informed in this regard. In order to enable it to conduct these investigations, the Committee also requests the complainant to provide the additional information requested by the Government.
4. 255. In the meantime, the Committee observes that the Labour Appeal Tribunal has ruled against the transfer orders of several BWDB workers and thus calls on the Government to ensure that these rulings are duly applied by the BWDB as well as to ensure that all workers wishing to challenge their transfer orders have the possibility to do so. Finally, the Committee reminds the Government that it is responsible for preventing all acts of anti-union discrimination and it must ensure that complaints of anti-union discrimination are examined in the framework of national procedures which should be prompt, impartial and considered as such by the parties concerned.