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Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Nicaragua (RATIFICATION: 1967)

In its previous comments the Committee noted the comments of 2005 and 2006 by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), now the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), on the application of the Convention which make particular reference to criminal proceedings against seven trade union officers, obstacles to the registration of a trade union executive committee and the declaration by the administrative authority that a work stoppage in the education sector was illegal.

The Committee notes that in its report the Government requests further details on: (i) the names of the seven persons, purportedly union officers, undergoing trial and of the organization to which they belong; (ii) the name of the trade union organization the executive committee of which has encountered obstacles to registration; and (iii) the declaration which, according to the ITUC, determined that a strike in the education sector was illegal. The Committee observes that according to the ITUC: (i) the trade union officials undergoing trial are seven founder members of the STUFEKY union of the King Yong maquila and the criminal proceedings are said to have been initiated in the context of a dispute with the company in April 2004; (ii) the executive board that encountered obstacles to registration was that of the “Ervin Abarca Jiménez” Union of Higher Education Workers of the National University of Engineering (SIPRES–UNI); and (iii) the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Education termed illegal a work stoppage called by the General Confederation of Education Workers of Nicaragua (CGTEN–ANDEN) in March 2004. The Committee requests the Government to send its observations thereon.