Definitive Report - Report No 31, 1960

Case No 156 (France) - Complaint date: 29-NOV-56 - Closed

1. 4. On 11 April 1957 the employees of the " Nahrungsmittelbetrieb " (Halle) sent a brief communication to the Director-General of the I.L.O referring to the " bloody aggression" on the part of the French Government against the Algerian people in its struggle for independence and freedom. The letter specifically alleged that 44 trade union leaders, whose names were not given, had been interned in concentration camps in Algeria, where they had suffered hardship and tortures and had been prevented from carrying on their trade union duties.
2. 5. On 9 May 1957 the Director-General informed the complainants that they could submit further details in support of their complaint and that under the procedure laid down for cases in which no personal particulars were available regarding the authors of the complaint he requested them at the same time to give details of the Constitution and by-laws of their organisation together with its affiliation, the composition of its executive committee and affiliation (if any) to an international organisation of workers.
3. 6. On 5 June 1957 the complainants replied to the Director-General's letter of 9 May 1957 (referred to in the previous paragraph). This letter gave some details about the composition of the German Trade Union Federation (the central trade union, organisation of Eastern Germany which is affiliated to the World Federation of Trade. Unions) whose membership " comprises the workers of the German Democratic Republic". This letter is signed, like the earlier letter of 11 April 1957, on behalf of the " employees " of the undertaking in question.
4. 7. In a further letter dated 8 October 1957, the complainants state that the members of their undertaking belong to the local industrial trade union. This letter is signed in the same way as the previous letters.

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 8. At its 18th Session the Committee repeated that in accordance with the procedure for dealing with allegations regarding infringements of freedom of association, the only complaints receivable (apart from those officially referred to the International Labour Office by the General Assembly or the United Nations Economic and Social Council) were those submitted by workers' or employers' organisations or by governments. In view of the fact that even though the two letters submitted to the Committee stated that the workers of the undertaking in question were members of the central trade union organisation in Eastern Germany but did not state that the complaint was submitted on behalf of an organisation of workers or employers, the Committee decided, in accordance with the procedure laid down for dealing with cases of infringement of freedom of association, that these communications were not receivable and that they did not therefore call for any action on its part.
2. 9. This decision by the Committee was notified to the complaining body on 5 November 1957. On 6 February 1958 the employees of the " V.E.B (K) F.L.E.B.A." informed the Director-General of the I.L.O that they would arrange for their complaint to be ratified by their central trade union.
3. 10. On 4 March 1958 the Director-General of the I.L.O received a letter from the " Industrial Trade Union of Local Authority Workers " (Industriegewerkschaft örtliche Wirtschaft) in Berlin, which ran as follows:
   • We have been in possession for some time of the correspondence carried on with you by the employees of the " V.E.B. (K) F.L.E.B.A." in Halle-Saale and we give our full and unqualified support to these workers. Our industrial trade union, which has over 750,000 members, endeavours to spread the truth about the real state of affairs in Algeria by means of the press and other forms of propaganda and it urges the workers to give active expression to their solidarity. We are convinced that the International Labour Office in Geneva possesses sufficient evidence to receive the complaint of the " V.E.B.(K) F.L.E.B.A.".
   • Industrial Trade Union of Local Authority Workers
   • Central Committee
   • (Signed) HOPPNER Chairman.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 11. In Case No. 3 (Dominican Republic) the Committee declared that a complaint submitted by four Dominican exiles was receivable once it had been forwarded and endorsed by an international trade union organisation. Accordingly the Committee may consider that in view of the support given by the industrial trade union to the allegations made by the employees of the " V.E.B (K) F.L.E.B.A" the complaint in question qualifies technically to be dealt with on its merits under the procedure followed by the Committee on Freedom of Association.
2. 12. The complaint of 11 April 1957 is couched in extremely vague and general terms and has not been expanded subsequently despite the fact that the complainants were informed that they could supply any additional information within a month under the usual procedure. The Committee also notes that complaints of the same type have already been examined in detail as a result of other and much more precise allegations than those at issue in this case.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 13. Accordingly the Committee considers that, as the complainants have only made general allegations to the effect that certain unnamed persons have been arrested and have supplied no further details on the subject, it would be unreasonable to ask the Government concerned to conduct inquiries which, in view of the vagueness of these allegations, would be extremely difficult ; the Committee therefore considers that the complaint in question does not call for further action.