Interim Report - Report No 308, November 1997

1. 597. The Committee examined this case at its meeting in March 1997 and presented an interim report to the Governing Body (see the 306th Report of the Committee, paras. 541-555, approved by the Governing Body at its 268th Session (March 1997)).
2. 598. In communications dated 8 and 27 February and 20 October 1997, the Federation of Construction Workers of Peru (FTCCP) and the Union of Construction Workers of Lima and Balnearios sent allegations relating to obstacles to collective bargaining. The Government sent new observations in its communication dated 18 September 1997.
3. 599. Peru has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), and the Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No. 151).

A. Previous examination of the case

1. 600. In the recommendations of its meeting in March 1997, the Committee requested the Government to send its observations concerning the imposition by a judicial body of a one-year suspended sentence on the trade union officers of the Federation of Construction Workers of Peru (FTCCP), José Luis Risco Montalván, Secretary-General, Mario Huamán Rivera and Victor Herrera Rubiños, organizational secretaries, for allegedly disturbing the peace in November 1991 in the course of a trade union struggle to restore the single national list of workers' demands (see 306th Report, para. 555). Likewise the Committee requested the Government to take measures, in consultation with the social partners, to amend legislation so that workers' organizations and employers and their organizations might exercise freely and without obstacles the right to collective bargaining at all levels.

B. The Government's reply

1. 601. In its communication dated 18 September 1997, the Government states that there is no case of anti-union persecution against the trade union officers of the FTCCP, but there is a lawsuit against José Luis Risco Montalván, Secretary-General, Mario Huamán Rivera and Victor Herrera Rubiños, organizational secretaries, for the serious disturbances caused during November 1991. The Government adds that during the said lawsuit the judge of the fifth judicial tribunal of Lima, having established the existence of sufficient grounds to constitute an offence, opened legal proceedings against them on 22 September 1992 for breach of the peace and offences against the 30th National Police District of Peru and Member of Congress Fernando Olivera and others, acts for which they were eventually condemned to a one-year suspended prison sentence.
2. 602. In December 1996 these trade union officers lodged an appeal to the Superior Court, which has been under review in the Sixth Judicial Chamber of the Superior Court since August 1997. The Government states that it will keep the Committee informed of any decision taken in this regard.

C. New allegations

1. 603. In their communications dated 8 and 27 February 1997, the Federation of Construction Workers of Peru (FTCCP) and the Union of Construction Workers of Lima and Balnearios alleged that the Labour Commission of the Congress of the Republic approved Bill No. 2266, the fifth provisional regulation of which establishes collective bargaining in the construction industry at the construction project level, fixing as a prerequisite that such bargaining cannot be initiated until six months has elapsed from the full start of construction work. The plaintiffs add that if this Bill is approved with the above-mentioned fifth provisional regulation, it will be impossible to carry out collective bargaining in the construction industry since most construction projects have a duration of about four to six months.
2. 604. In a communication of 20 October 1997, the FTCCP informs the Committee that José Luis Risco Montalván, Mario Huamán Rivera and Victor Herrera Rubiños, Secretary-General and union officers respectively, have been sentenced to two years' imprisonment pursuant to a decision of the Criminal Division of the Superior Court of Lima of 2 October 1997.

D. The Government's further reply

1. 605. In its communication dated 18 September 1997, the Government states that there is a new draft Bill which will be reviewed by the Labour Commission of the Congress of the Republic, and that not only have they put aside Bill No. 2266 but they have in effect eliminated from its articles the regulation which forms the subject of the allegations by the plaintiff organizations.

E. The Committee's conclusions

1. 606. The Committee observes that in these complaints the plaintiffs allege anti-union persecution against three trade union officers of the Federation of Construction Workers of Peru (FTCCP) who were given a one-year suspended prison sentence in 1991, and limitations to collective bargaining in the construction industry at the construction project level.
2. 607. With regard to the allegations concerning the sentencing on 2 October 1997 to two years' imprisonment of the trade union officers José Luis Risco Montalván, Secretary-General, Mario Huamán Rivera and Victor Herrera Rubiños, organizational secretaries, the Committee requests the Government to forward its observations on this matter.
3. 608. With regard to the fifth provisional regulation of Bill No. 2266 which prevents collective bargaining in the construction industry at the construction project level prior to the elapse of six months from the full start of construction work, the Committee notes with interest that, according to the Government's statement, such a limitation which restricted collective bargaining was removed from the new draft Bill to be reviewed by the Labour Commission of the Congress of the Republic. The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed of the final approval of the new draft Bill with regard to the issue raised, and to ensure that the collective bargaining parties are entitled to negotiate at all levels.