Definitive Report - Report No 73, 1964

Case No 338 (Cameroon) - Complaint date: 20-MAY-63 - Closed

1. 30. By a communication dated 20 May 1963 addressed directly to the I.L.O, the Cameroon Confederation of Unions of Believers (C.C.T.C.) alleged violation of freedom of association in Cameroon. After being informed of its right to submit further information in support of its complaint, the complainant supplied such information in several communications dated respectively 12, 17, 18 and 26 July 1963.
2. 31. The original complaint and the further information submitted in support were transmitted to the Government for its observations as each item was received, and the Government replied by a communication dated 31 August 1963.
3. 32. Cameroon 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).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 33. The complaint by the General Secretary of the Cameroon Confederation of Unions of Believers, to which a considerable volume of documentation was appended, contains allegations stating essentially that, in the view of the author of the complaint, the C.C.T.C was dissolved in irregular circumstances. This is why the complainant refuses to admit that any such dissolution has really taken place, and protests against the measures resulting, namely eviction of the C.C.T.C from the premises it occupied and occupation of those premises by another organisation, and refusal of representation for the C.C.T.C on the various advisory bodies provided for in the Labour Code and the regulations adopted for the application of that Code. The complainant supplied numerous documents in support of its assertions with regard to the above-mentioned measures.
2. 34. According to the complainant, the meeting which resulted in the dissolution of the two existing Christian organisations-the C.C.T.C and the U.C.T.C. (Cameroon Union of Believing Workers)-and in the establishment of a single central body known as the Cameroon Union of Believers' Trade Unions (U.S.C.C.), took place in irregular circumstances. It is alleged that the above-mentioned dissolution and the establishment of a single central body are a mere manoeuvre intended to conceal the true situation. The complainant gives a somewhat confused description of the events in question and states that the true facts are that the C.C.T.C and the U.C.T.C decided to merge in order to come under the sole leadership of the C.C.T.C, which is the complainant.
3. 35. The Government's reply gives a very that early in 1962, following several meetings and on the initiative of the trade union leaders at the national level, at the regional level (leaders of the Pan-African Union of Believing Workers) and at the international level (leaders of the I.F.C.T.U.), a trend had emerged in favour of regrouping the two trade unions of believing workers then existing in Cameroon in a single organisation.
4. 36. For this purpose an extraordinary congress of believing workers was organised at Yaoundé on 9 September 1962 under the joint auspices of the C.C.T.C and the U.C.T.C - the complaining organisation. The Government states that during this congress, which was marked by numerous incidents, it soon became clear that Mr. Enama (the signatory of the complaint) was in favour of unity, but for his own exclusive benefit. It was then, according to the Government's statement, that a proposal was made, not for union of the two organisations under section 24 of the Labour Code, for which unanimous agreement had at one time been hoped, but for legal dissolution of the two organisations by their general meeting and the subsequent creation of a new unified central organisation of believing workers. It was this double procedure, which Mr. Enama was unable to prevent, that the extraordinary congress decided to follow. The congress, constituting itself as a general meeting, dissolved the two existing organisations and thereupon drew up the rules and regulations of the new central body, which was given the name of Cameroon Union of Believers' Trade Unions (U.S.C.C.). These rules and regulations, which were officially deposited a few days later, were recognised by the Administration as satisfying the legal requirements, and a receipt was issued to the leaders concerned. The new central organisation then became a legal entity, and the property originally held by the two former organisations, the C.C.T.C and the U.C.T.C, automatically reverted to the new union, the U.S.C.C, in accordance with their own rules and regulations.
5. 37. The Government goes on to state the following: " Only Mr. Enama, whose petty self-sufficiency had caused him to refuse a leading position in the new organisation, disagreed... and he then devised every form of obstacle against the operation of the new central body." It is stated that his attitude was to make protests and to attempt to retain the premises hitherto occupied by the organisation of which he had been General Secretary and the seats that body had in the various advisory organs. His action was unsuccessful since, according to the Government's statement, Mr. Enama no longer represented any organisation and the legal dissolution of the central body which he had previously directed meant that he could no longer lay any claim to use of the trade union premises formerly assigned to the C.C.T.C.; that he could no longer lay any claim to the seats formerly allotted to the C.C.T.C on various advisory bodies on the grounds of its representative character; that he no longer had any right to submit candidatures under the C.C.T.C label in the first round of elections of employees' delegates since that body no longer existed and local regulations state that the first round of elections is restricted exclusively " to the most representative occupational groups, if any ".
6. 38. The Government states finally-and this statement is confirmed by documents appended to its reply-that the International Federation of Christian Trade Unions, by a decision adopted by its World Council, meeting at Berlin from 16 to 18 January 1963, recognises as the only organisation in Cameroon affiliated to the I.F.C.T.U the Cameroon Union of Believers' Trade Unions (U.S.C.C.), created by the voluntary merger of the two organisations that formerly existed. The Pan-African Union of Believing Workers has adopted the same attitude.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 39. It would appear, first of all from the explanations supplied by the Government, as well as from the documents submitted by it in support of its statement, that the congress to bring about a regrouping of the two organisations of believing trade unions in Cameroon was organised not only with the agreement of both organisations, but under their actual auspices. It also seems that, since no unanimous agreement could be reached for actual union of these two organisations, the majority of participants then decided to constitute the congress as a general meeting and then to bring about the legal dissolution of the existing organisations and the establishment of a new and sole organisation. The evidence before the Committee gives no grounds to believe that the choice or manner of procedure in any way violated democratic rules.
2. 40. It further seems clear from the Government's observations-and this is in no way refuted by the terms of the complaint, quite the contrary-that the public authorities played no part in the decisions reached, which seem to have been made exclusively by the workers concerned, who met of their own free will in order to endeavour to find a solution to the problem facing them. The Government acted merely in order to legalise the decisions freely adopted by the workers when it received the rules and regulations of the new organisation.
3. 41. With regard to the subsidiary aspects of the complaint (expulsion from trade union premises, and refusal of representation on advisory bodies), since the complainant had ceased to exist by the desire of the workers themselves, it is clear that that organisation (or its leader) could no longer lay any claim to advantages which could not, by definition, be granted to a non-existent body if they were granted to an organisation actually in existence.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 42. In these circumstances, considering that the dissolution of the complaining organisation was decided by the free will of a congress convened in a regular manner by all the workers concerned, the Committee is of the opinion that this dissolution or any consequence resulting from it cannot be regarded as having constituted an infringement of trade union rights, and therefore recommends the Governing Body to decide that the case does not call for further examination.