Report in which the committee requests to be kept informed of development - Report No 281, March 1992

1. 237. The complaints are contained in communications from the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) dated 12 July 1991, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) dated 2 August 1991, the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) also dated 2 August 1991 and the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), dated 5 August 1991. The OATUU provided further information in support of its complaint on 15 August 1991.
2. 238. The Government responded to the allegations in a communication dated 2 November 1991.
3. 239. The Central African Republic 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 complainants' allegations

1. 240. The World Confederation of Labour (WCL) alleges in its communication of 12 July 1991 that the Government has violated Conventions Nos. 87 and 98. It explains that a strike was called on 29 April 1991 by six occupational federations of the civil service to demand timely payment of wages for all civil servants in both the capital and the provinces, since in some isolated areas wages had not been paid for more than two months, a rise in the wage scale which had been frozen for more than ten years, the reinstatement of workers suspended since November 1990 for having expressed their desire for more democracy and for the holding of a national conference. On 3 June 1991, workers in the private sector also went on strike, requesting an increase in their wages, which barely permitted them to survive.
2. 241. According to the WCL, the Government, confronted with this situation, went on the offensive against the strikers, arbitrarily arresting the following trade unionists on 28 June 1991 and detaining them at the Bangui police station: Mr. Jean-Michel Sanzema, General Secretary of the SOCAF trade union, Mr. Edouard Parizé, trade unionist in the "Dias Frères" establishment, Mr. Léon Topomo of the Bamay Company, Mr. Mathurin Gbaboné and Mr. Jean-Michel Somode of PETROCA and Mr. Louis Ngoufoudou. Subsequently, Mr. Ngaba-Mangou, General Secretary of the public works employees organisation, Mr. Jacquesson Mazette, General Secretary of the teachers in higher education and Mr. Germain Zoungoula were arrested on 4 July 1991, and Mrs. Cécile Guéret, a member of the National Executive Committee of the Trade Union of Central African Workers (USTC) was arrested on 9 July 1991. The complainant points out that trade unionists and workers have been hunted down, that two medical doctors, a nurse and other members of the USTC Executive Committee are currently being searched for and that strikers have been threatened with the loss of their jobs.
3. 242. The WCL explains that the Government infiltrated policemen among the workers at a USTC meeting held at the trade union centre, but that they were discovered and were requested to leave the premises. The police used this as a pretext to take over the centre using tear-gas, and to arrest trade unionists. The WCL adds that the authorities arrested trade unionists Pierre Ngaba-Mangou, Jacquesson Mazette and Germain Zoungoula as they left the American embassy's Independence Day reception on 4 July.
4. 243. The WCL also accuses the Government of having decreed on 5 July 1991 the suspension of the USTC and its activities until 31 October 1991, while threatening to establish another trade union office if the situation did not calm down by then.
5. 244. According to the complainant confederation, the Government also hindered the conduct of collective bargaining in the private sector by refusing to permit the employers to hold bilateral discussions with the workers and their organisations, by setting up a joint commission where government representatives sit as well. It considers that the Government has thus demonstrated its clear desire to interfere in the normal conduct of collective bargaining between the social partners.
6. 245. The WCL requests that those arrested be released and that the suspension of trade union activities be ended.
7. 246. The complaint of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), dated 2 August 1991, deals first with the events leading up to the strike of 29 April 1991. It explains that after a trade union ban which was in effect from 1981 to 1990, Act No. 88/009 of 1988, which came into force in May 1990, allowed the resumption of trade union activities. After its establishment in July 1990, the USTC launched a general strike on 21 November 1990 to protest against the ten-year wage freeze and poor working conditions, and to demand the regular payment of wages. The Government declared this strike illegal, issuing a decree which requisitioned some categories of civil servants and forced them back to work, namely in the water and electric companies and airports, and it called on the police and the security services to enforce the decree. According to the ICFTU, trade unionists were arrested on 23 November 1990, subjected to harsh interrogation, and then released. Riot police surrounded the USTC headquarters and used tear-gas to disperse a USTC demonstration. According to the complainant confederation, the Government rejected the trade union's requests for mediation and arbitration of the dispute.
8. 247. The ICFTU points out that the USTC subsequently met government representatives in April 1991 to discuss the late payment of wages and the reinstatement of five Central African Electricity Distribution Company workers who had been dismissed during the strike in November 1990. On 29 April 1991 civil servants went on strike, followed on 3 June by workers in the private sector.
9. 248. More specifically the ICFTU alleges that the Government searched for trade union leaders, that it arrested the president of the Finance Ministry's worker federation on 31 May 1991, brought charges against trade union leaders, accusing them "of having transformed their trade unions in order to make political demands", and called on retired military personnel to reinforce the army. It explains that on 3 July the USTC held a meeting at the trade union centre, which was infiltrated by two members of the security services. Workers discovered them and the two police officers were forced to take refuge at a private residence, from which they called the police. The army occupied the centre using tear-gas, injuring dozens of trade unionists in the process. Following these events, the Government banned all meetings at the trade union centre. Thirty-four leading trade unionists were arrested and interrogated by the police on 4 and 5 July, and Mr. Sonny-Cole, General Secretary of the USTC, was forced into hiding.
10. 249. The ICFTU also points out that on 8 July six trade unions in the public sector were suspended by government decree with effect until 31 October. In July, dozens of trade union leaders and rank-and-file members were arrested and held in a secret place of detention. According to the complainant organisation threats of arrest are still being made.
11. 250. Finally, the ICFTU accuses the Government of having sentenced the following people in their absence and while they were unable to make a case for their defence: Mr. Jacquesson Mazette, General Secretary of the Trade Union Federation of Central African Teachers (FSEC), to a two-year suspended sentence, Mr. Germain Zoungoula and Mr. Pierre Ngaba-Mangou, respectively Assistant General Secretary of the FSEC and General Secretary of the Trade Union Federation of Public Works Employees (FSTPAT), to one-year suspended sentences, and Mr. Théophile Sonny-Cole, General Secretary of the USTC, and Mr. Nestor Ballet, a leader of the Teachers' Federation, both to one year's imprisonment without remission.
12. 251. The complaint presented on 2 and 15 August 1991 by the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) concerns the occupation of the trade union centre by the police, the suspension for four months (from July to the end of October 1991) of the activities of six trade union federations in the public sector, the dismissal of civil servants who did not resume work on 8 July 1991 in accordance with the Government's ultimatum, the detention of several trade union leaders in Bangui and the verdicts reached on 8 July. The OATUU points out that all these measures are directly and undeniably linked with the strike decided by the trade unions to demand payment of civil servants' and state employees' back wages, the timely payment of monthly wages and the reinstatement of five Central African Energy (Enerca) workers dismissed as a result of a previous strike at the end of 1990.
13. 252. In a communication of 5 August 1991, the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) also mentions that the two trade union leaders, Mr. Sonny-Cole and Mr. Ballet, were sentenced to one year's imprisonment without remission, having neither been heard nor summoned at the trial, and that three other trade union leaders were given suspended sentences of one to two years on 31 July 1990.

B. The Government's reply

1. 253. In its communication of 2 November 1991 the Government begins by pointing out that on 19 May 1988 the Head of State promulgated an Act on freedom of association and the protection of trade union rights which fully conforms with the provisions of Convention No. 87. It explains that this Act brought to an end the ban on trade unions and enabled workers to organise. Some 60 trade unions and seven federations were established. From 4 to 7 July 1990 the trade unions held a congress during which they founded their confederation, the Trade Union of Central African Workers (USTC), and elected the members of its National Executive Committee. The Government states that all this took place democratically and freely, with no interference by the authorities and in the presence of an ILO representative and representatives of international trade union organisations.
2. 254. The Government then acknowledges that on 17 October 1990 a strike was called by some public sector federations to demand that salaries be unfrozen, with immediate payment retroactive to 1 January 1990, that technical allowances be paid, that these allowances be brought back up to 100 per cent, that wages be paid in a timely manner, that the category system be eliminated, that competitive examinations be restored and that housing allowances be paid to teachers in institutions of higher learning. In accordance with the Head of State's instructions, negotiations were carried out between the Government and the USTC, and work resumed.
3. 255. However, on 21 April 1991, five public sector federations launched a new open-ended strike to demand the payment of back wages for February and March 1991 and the reinstatement of five Enerca employees who, according to the Government, had been dismissed for acts of sabotage affecting the enterprise's plant. The Government asserts that on 31 May 1991 all these demands had been met: the wages were paid, including those of April 1991, and the previously dismissed Enerca workers were rehired. It encloses a copy of the decision to rehire the workers dated 8 May 1991.
4. 256. The Government states that the USTC, which was holding talks with the Federation of Central African Employers (FNPC) on revising the wage scale in the private sector, broke off negotiations on the pretext that the employers delegation was stalling, while the employers, although generally in favour of a revision, were asking for ten days to consult their members in order to arrive at new figures for their proposals. The Government points out that as soon as negotiations were halted by the USTC, the Confederation called a 48-hour strike, which in practice lasted one month in the private sector and, as of 2 November, was continuing in basic and technical education, in institutions of higher learning, and in health care and postal services. The Government considers that this strike involved many breaches of legal and regulatory provisions governing the exercise of the right to strike: non-observance of the procedure for calling a strike, excessive affirmation of the call to strike, the organisation of pickets, non-observance of requisition orders and refusal to ensure minimum services, untoward behaviour on the part of trade union leaders, gross violations of trade union democracy and the diversion of the trade union from its objectives.
5. 257. The Government admits however that on 5 July 1991 the arbitration board, made up of a magistrate, two advisers representing the workers and two representing the employers, recognised the validity of the workers' claims, although it stated that the strike called by the workers in the private sector was illegal. Furthermore, according to the Government, the board recommended that within one week the ad hoc committee in charge of revising minimum wages (SMIG and SMAG) should publish its findings and thus enable the parties to resume negotiations on the conditions for returning to work.
6. 258. As regards the trade union meeting organised by the USTC on 3 July 1991 at the trade union centre, the Government explains that at the close of the meeting attacks were carried out by gangs leaving the centre. It points out that several citizens were assaulted and that the Ministry of Labour was stormed: stones were thrown, documents and equipment destroyed, the Minister's personal secretary assaulted and a labour inspector maltreated. The Government had to maintain law and order: it was in these circumstances that the police intervened to evacuate the trade union centre and that the activities of public sector trade union federations were suspended. It adds that since some of the victims decided to press charges it was only natural for the judicial authorities to intervene.
7. 259. According to the Government, that is why the trade unionists were arrested and kept in custody at police premises, and not in a secret place of detention. Preliminary investigations led to their arraignment and they were judged at a regular trial, with public proceedings and respect for the rights of the defence. On 31 July 1991, the Bangui High Court convicted Messrs. Sonny-Cole, Ballet, Mazette, Ngaba-Mangou and Zoungoula. The Government adds that none of the persons concerned spent any time in prison since the Presidential pardon granted on 6 September 1991 and the amnesty promulgated on 25 September 1991 covered their cases.
8. 260. The Government concludes its observations by declaring that since 1 November 1991 trade union activities have resumed in the public sector, in accordance with Order No. 91.006 of 31 October 1991, authorising the resumption of the activities of trade union federations in the public sector.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 261. The Committee notes that the complainant organisations allege: (1) the non-observance of the fundamental rights of trade union leaders and activists (arrest, detention, criminal conviction and dismissal); (2) the suspension of the activities of some trade union organisations; (3) obstruction of the right of collective bargaining and the right to strike.
2. 262. As regards the first series of allegations, the Committee notes that they have to do with the arbitrary arrest and detention of several trade union leaders and activists who apparently have not stood trial, as well as the sentencing to a one- or two-year suspended sentence of Messrs. Mazette, Zoungoula and Ngaba-Mangou, and the sentencing in their absence of Messrs. Sonny-Cole, the General Secretary of the USTC, and Nestor Ballet, leader of the Teachers' Trade Union Federation, to one year of prison without parole. The Committee recalls that a genuinely free and independent trade union movement can only develop where fundamental human rights are fully respected and guaranteed, and that the arrest and detention of trade union leaders and trade unionists for exercising legitimate trade union activities or against whom no criminal charges are laid constitutues a violation of the principles of freedom of association. (See Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, 3rd edition, 1985, paras. 68, 88 and 89.)
3. 263. The Committee has reviewed the transcript of the judgement whereby these trade unionists were found guilty. After examination of the available information, the Committee considers it cannot conclude that the accused were not judged by the competent judicial authorities or that they were denied the guarantees of a regular judicial procedure. It is nevertheless bound to note that trade unionists have been sentenced for acts of violence in which they do not seem to have participated directly. The Committee expresses its concern at these sentences and expresses the firm hope that similar measures will not be taken in future. The Committee also notes that these trade unionists benefited from Decree No. 91.226, which commuted their sentences by pardon and Act No. 91/010, granting amnesty on 1 September 1991. The Committee therefore considers that this aspect of the case does not call for further examination.
4. 264. As regards the allegation of dismissal of some civil servants for participation in a strike, the Committee recalls the principle to the effect that the use of extremely serious measures, such as dismissal of workers for having participated in a strike, implies a serious risk of abuse and constitutes a violation of freedom of association (see Digest, ibid., para. 444). The Committee therefore considers that the Government should not have dismissed these persons. Furthermore, the Committee notes that the amnesty granted by Act No. 91/010 does not reinstate employees in the public sector. It therefore requests the Government to reinstate the dismissed civil servants and to keep it informed of any decision taken in this regard.
5. 265. As regards the allegations of interference in the trade union activities of the USTC, and more particularly interference in the trade union meeting held by the the USTC on 3 July 1991 at the trade union centre, the Committee notes that, according to the Government, at the close of the meeting attacks were carried out by gangs leaving the centre. The Government explains that in these circumstances it had to send in the police to evacuate and close the trade union centre and prohibit all meetings. Regarding these incidents, the Committee observes that the verdict of 31 July took into consideration that the accused could benefit from a suspended sentence since this situation might not have occurred had two undercover civil servants not been present in the crowd, given that the trade unionists had until then tolerated the presence of a small army detachment in the distance. The Committee emphasises the importance it attaches to the fact that entry into trade union premises without a judicial warrant or the occupation of such premises constitutes a serious interference by the authorities in trade union activities (see Digest, ibid., paras. 202 and 203). It requests the Government to take all measures necessary to grant the USTC free access to the trade union centre and to permit it to hold trade union meetings there without any interference.
6. 266. As regards the suspension until 31 October 1991 of the activities of trade union federations in the public sector, the Committee notes with regret that this measure resulted from a government order of 6 July, contrary to Article 4 of Convention No. 87. The Committee considers that the suspension by administrative authority of trade union organisations constitutes a serious restriction of the right of workers' organisations to organise their administration, programmes and activities, in violation of Article 3 of Convention No. 87. The Committee nevertheless notes that the government suspension order of 6 July 1991 was cancelled by Order No. 91.006 of 31 October 1991 permitting the resumption of trade union activities in the public sector.
7. 267. As regards collective bargaining in the private sector, the Committee observes that the Arbitration Board recognised the validity of the workers' claims on 5 July 1991 and recommended that within one week the committees in charge of revising minimum wages should publish their findings and thus enable the parties to resume negotiations on the conditions for returning to work. The Committee therefore requests the Government to keep it informed of progress in collective bargaining in the private sector.
8. 268. As regards the presidential decree adopted after the first general strike was launched by the USTC on 21 November 1990, which requisitioned and forced back to work civil servants in water and electric companies as well as airport workers, the Committee reminds the Government that the principle according to which strikes may be restricted or prohibited in "essential services" might lose its meaning if the prohibition were not limited to essential services in the strict sense of the term, i.e. services whose interruption would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population, and this consequently might interfere with the right of trade unions "to organise their administration and activities" and "to formulate their programmes" as guaranteed by Article 3 of Convention No. 87 (see Digest, ibid., paras. 394 and 400). While the Committee recognises that water and electricity services constitute essential services in the strict sense of the term, it has on many occasions pointed out that transport cannot generally be included in the category of essential services.