Interim Report - Report No 73, 1964

Case No 308 (Argentina) - Complaint date: 14-SEP-62 - Closed

1. 116. The complaint lodged by the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions was contained in a communication sent directly to the International Labour Office on 14 September 1962. The Argentine Government sent its observations in a note dated 22 January 1963. The Committee examined the complaint at its February 1963 meeting and decided to ask the Government for further information. The Government sent new information in notes dated 5 April and 21 May 1963.
2. 117. Argentina 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).

118. The International Federation of Christian Trade Unions alleges that the Argentine Government has withdrawn legal personality and trade union status from three federations, namely the Federation of Salaried and Wage-Earning Postal and Telecommunications Employees, the Argentine Printing and Allied Trades Federation, and the Argentine Textile Workers' Association. The complainant adds that this decision is in flagrant contradiction with the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87).

1. 119. In its reply dated 22 January 1963 the Government states that the complaint concerns the withdrawal of legal personality and trade union status from the following occupational associations: the Federation of Salaried and Wage-Earning Postal and Telecommunications Employees, the Argentine Printing and Allied Trades Federation, the Buenos Aires Printing and Allied Trades Federation and the Argentine Textile Workers' Association. The Government adds that legal personality and trade union status were withdrawn in resolutions issued by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (Nos. 535/62, 530/62 and 531/62, copies of which were attached to the reply), the preambles to which duly gave the reasons of the competent authority for adopting the measures concerned.
2. 120. The Committee pointed out that the Government referred to four organisations, namely the three mentioned by the complainant and the Buenos Aires Printing and Allied Trades Federation, although in its reply no further reference was made to the Argentine Printing and Allied Trades Federation. The Committee therefore requested the Government to state whether at any time it withdrew legal personality and trade union status from the Argentine Printing and Allied Trades Federation. In its reply dated 21 May 1963 the Government states that legal personality and trade union status were withdrawn from the Argentine Printing and Allied Trades Federation by resolution No. 704 of 22 December 1959, since legal personality and trade union status had been granted to the Buenos Aires Printing and Allied Trades Federation as a first-grade body. Thus, the Government adds, the Argentine Printing and Allied Trades Federation became a second-grade body known as the Argentine Federation of Printing Workers, which was recognised under resolution No. 323 of 9 June 1960. The Committee notes the presence of a mistake in the original complaint in which the Argentine Printing and Allied Trades Federation was mistaken for the Buenos Aires Printing and Allied Trades Federation. Since there no longer seems to be any problem regarding the Argentine Printing and Allied Trades Federation, which has become the Argentine Federation of Printing Workers, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to decide that this aspect of the case does not call for further examination.
3. 121. With regard to withdrawal of legal personality and trade union status from the Buenos Aires Printing and Allied Trades Federation, the Federation of Salaried and Wage-Earning Postal and Telecommunications Employees, and the Argentine Textile Workers' Association, the grounds stated in the respective resolutions are as follows : in the case of the Buenos Aires Printing and Allied Trades Federation, non-compliance with a resolution of the Director-General of Labour Relations dated 20 August 1962 which called on strikers to resume work which had been arbitrarily suspended in an effort to obtain wage increases; in the case of the Federation of Salaried and Wage-Earning Postal and Telecommunications Employees, failure to observe a resolution of the Director-General of Labour Relations dated 24 August 1962 calling for an end to a strike whose only justification was "delay in the payment of wages and salaries for the month of July 1962, whereas by 22 August 1962 outstanding wages had already been paid to postmen and messengers and similar employees and steps had been taken to settle obligations to other employees, available funds permitting "; and in the case of the Argentine Textile Workers' Association, denial of the competence of the Ministry of Labour to examine its books, thus violating section 17 of Act No. 14455 concerning workers' occupational associations. The three resolutions concerned concluded that, as "the provisions issued by the competent authority in the exercise of its legal powers" had not been observed, these organisations were subject to prosecution under section 34, paragraph 2, of Act No. 14455, reading as follows
4. 34. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security shall enforce the provisions of this Act and have authority to:
5. 1....................................................................................................................................................
6. 2. Withdraw or suspend the legal personality or trade union status of occupational associations for:
7. (a).................................................................................................................................................
8. (b) failure to comply with the regulations issued by the competent authority in the exercise of its legal powers;
9. ......................................................................................................................................................
10. The three above-mentioned resolutions suspended the legal personality and trade union status which had been previously granted to the organisation in question.
11. 122. The Government also states in its reply that the facts on which the complaint was based did not in any way entail violation of the principles laid down in the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), since, as pointed out previously, the withdrawal of legal personality and trade union status merely involved the suspension of a specific right, whereas the association as such continued to enjoy all its normal rights. The Government adds that section 37 of Act No. 14455 grants the organisations concerned the right to appeal to the National Chamber of Appeals in Labour Matters and that all three of these organisations exercised that right. Finally, the Government declares that the National Chamber of Appeals in Labour Matters handed down a decision (copy of which was forwarded) reversing the resolution affecting the Buenos Aires Printing and Allied Trades Federation; that a similar decision was handed down in the case of the Federation of Salaried and Wage-Earning Postal and Telecommunications Employees; and that, in the case of the Argentine Textile Workers' Association, the appeal is still pending judgment and that the verdict will be communicated to the Committee as soon as it is handed down.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 123. The Committee, although it recognises that under Argentine labour laws-as stated by the Government-the withdrawal of legal personality and trade union status from an organisation does not entail its dissolution, recalls that in previous cases concerning Argentina it stated that "from the strictly trade union point of view... the role assigned to these organisations (without legal status) is extremely limited" and that, "in view of the statutory distinction between organisations having trade union status and ordinary trade unions, it would seem that organisations which do not have trade union status do not have the right to organise in freedom their administration and activities and to formulate their programmes".
2. 124. The Committee observed that in the present case the allegations submitted by the complainants as well as the Government's reply and the text of Act No. 14455 concerning workers' occupational associations fail to show clearly whether the withdrawal of legal personality and trade union status became effective as soon as resolutions'' Nos. 535/62, 530/62 and 531/62 were issued, and these rights were not restored, in the case of the Buenos Aires Printing and Allied Trades Federation and the Federation of Salaried and Wage-Earning Postal and Telecommunications Employees, until the National Chamber of Appeals in Labour Matters had reversed these resolutions, or whether the legal personality and trade union status of these organisations were maintained during the period between the date on which the administrative resolutions withdrawing legal personality and trade union status were issued and the date on which, the court decision reversing these resolutions was handed down, or whether they were restored only after the date on which these organisations lodged their appeal. In these circumstances the Committee decided to request the Argentine Government for additional information regarding this aspect of the case and the situation respecting the appeal lodged by the Argentine Textile Workers' Association.
3. 125. By its note of 5 April 1963 the Government sent a copy of resolution No. 106 of 5 March 1963 in which it decided to restore the legal personality and trade union status of the Argentine Textile Workers' Association. In its communication of 21 May 1963 the Government sent copies of resolutions Nos. 530 and 535 withdrawing the legal personality and trade union status of the Buenos Aires Printing and Allied Trades Federation and the Federation of Salaried and Wage-Earning Postal and Telecommunications Employees. The Committee observed that the Government has failed to reply to the question regarding the immediate practical effects of the resolutions withdrawing legal personality and trade union status from those unions.
4. 126. In view of the fact that Article 4 of the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), provides that "workers' and employers' organisations shall not be liable to be dissolved or suspended by administrative authority", the Committee again requests the Government to state whether withdrawal of legal personality and trade union status from the Buenos Aires Printing and Allied Trades Federation, the Federation of Salaried and Wage-Earning Postal and Telecommunications Employees and the Argentine Textile Workers' Association became effective as soon as the respective resolutions were issued and whether such personality and status were restored to these organisations only when the National Chamber of Appeals in Labour Matters gave its decision, or when subsequent resolutions were issued restoring such personality and status, or whether these organisations retained their legal personality and trade union status at all times.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 127. In these circumstances the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to decide, for the reasons stated in paragraph 120 above, that the allegation relating to the withdrawal of legal personality and trade union status from the Argentine Printing and Allied Trades Federation does not call for further examination;
   • (b) to take note of the present interim report concerning the allegations relating to withdrawal of legal personality and trade union status from the Buenos Aires Printing and Allied Trades Federation, the Federation of Salaried and Wage Earning Postal and Telecommunications Employees, and the Argentine Textile Workers' Association, it being understood that the Committee will report further thereon when it has received the information again requested from the Argentine Government.