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Rapport définitif - Rapport No. 265, Juin 1989

Cas no 1464 (Honduras) - Date de la plainte: 13-JUIN -88 - Clos

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  1. 154. The complaint is contained in a letter from the Single Federation of
    • Workers of Honduras (FUTH) dated 13 June 1988. The Government replied in a
    • letter of 9 February 1989.
  2. 155. Honduras has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the
    • Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) and Right to Organise and
    • Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainant's allegations

A. The complainant's allegations
  1. 156. The Single Federation of Workers of Honduras (FUTH) alleges in its
    • letter of 13 June 1988 that, since May 1981, it has repeatedly but
    • unsuccessfully been applying to the authorities to be registered and for its
    • legal personality to be recognised, complying for this purpose with all the
    • relevant legal requirements. The FUTH emphasises that this non-registration is
    • a clear violation of Convention No. 87 and it attaches a copy of the
    • applications it has been making to the Ministry of Labour since 1981.
    • B. The Government's reply
  2. 157. In its letter of 9 February 1989, the Government states that by
    • decision of 22 December 1988 it granted legal personality to the Single
    • Federation of Workers of Honduras.
  3. 158. According to the Government's observations, the application for legal
    • personality submitted by the FUTH in 1983 contained some anomalies, of which
    • the Federation was duly informed. The organisation, however, did not respond
    • until January 1987, when anomalies were again noted but which the FUTH agreed
    • to amend. On 24 June 1987 the Department for Social Organisations of the
    • Secretariat of State for Labour issued a ruling in favour of granting the
    • Federation legal personality, of approving its statutes and of delivering the
    • relevant official papers. Nevertheless, following an opinion by the legal
    • adviser to the Secretariat of State for Labour within the framework of
    • ministerial policy to prevent inter-union disputes, the Secretariat of State
    • issued a ruling on 31 August 1987 according to which "on the basis of section
  4. 538 of the Labour Code, draft rules are to be drawn up empowering the
    • applicant Federation to resolve definitively (without prejudice to the
    • constitutional right to appeal for protection, called "amparo") any disputes
    • that may arise between two or more federated organisations or between internal
    • factions of any one of these federations; to this end the application is to be
    • referred back to the Legal Department". On 26 May 1988 the Secretariat of
    • State for Labour issued a further ruling whereby the FUTH was to be given a
    • copy of the "draft rules" for it to decide whether to accept or reject them.
    • It was not until 27 September 1988 that the FUTH expressed its agreement.

C. The Committee's conclusions

C. The Committee's conclusions
  1. 159. The Committee notes with interest the granting of legal personality to
    • the Single Federation of Workers of Honduras, by decision of 22 December 1988.
    • The Committee nevertheless observes that this legal personality was granted
    • seven years after it had first been applied for; that the Government has
    • furnished no observations on the reasons for not acceding to the application
    • for legal personality submitted by the FUTH in 1981 (a copy of which is
    • supplied by the Federation), the Government's explanations covering only the
    • period 1983-88; and that the Government's version of the facts reveals
    • considerable delays in dealing with the application, which delays in some
    • cases were caused by the FUTH but also by the authorities. For example, the
    • proposal to include in the rules a provision allowing for the settlement of
    • inter-union disputes since the Labour Code does not require - it merely
    • permits - the inclusion of provisions of this kind. Consequently, the
    • Committee regrets the delays which took place in dealing with FUTH's
    • application for legal personality, which without a doubt prevented this
    • organisation from lawfully exercising its trade union rights for a long period
    • of time.

The Committee's recommendations

The Committee's recommendations
  1. 160. In the light of its foregoing conclusions, the Committee invites the
    • Governing Body to approve the following recommendations:
      • a) The Committee is pleased that the Single Federation of Workers of
    • Honduras was granted legal personality after so many years.
      • b) The Committee hopes that measures will be taken to speed up the
    • procedure in respect of the granting of legal personality to trade union
    • organisations so as to avoid undue delay.
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