Interim Report - Report No 144, 1974

Case No 697 (Spain) - Complaint date: 14-APR-72 - Closed

1. 88. The Committee has already examined the present case, at its May 1973 Session, when it submitted to the Governing Body an interim report set out in paragraphs 97-101, 114-116 and 121(d) of its 137th report, which was approved by the Governing Body at its 190th Session (May-June 1973).
2. 89. In paragraph 121(d) of the report cited, the Committee recommended that the Governing Body request the Government to provide certain additional information.
3. 90. The Government sent this additional information in a letter dated 23 April 1974.
4. 91. Spain has ratified neither the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), nor the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 92. It may be recalled that the ICFTU alleged that six workers, members of the General Workers' Union (UGT), had been arrested and held at the disposal of the Public Order Tribunal for acts of sympathy with workers who had allegedly been victimised on account of strikes at the Michelin factory in Vitoria. The ICFTU gave the names of the persons concerned: Maria Cristina Valverde, Maria Inés Dueñas, Josefina Anguiano Alfonso, imprisoned in Vitoria, and Justianiano Baranda Otero, Blanca Pera Sarasda and Alicia Ayala Velasco, held in Beasain Prison in Bilbao.
2. 93. The Government stated in its communication that none of the persons to whom reference is made by the ICFTU was in custody.
3. 94. During examination of the case at its May 1973 Session, the Committee, considering that it was not clear from the Government's reply what the position of those persons was as regards legal proceedings, asked the Governing Body to request the Government to state whether legal proceedings were pending against those persons and, if so, with what offences they had been charged.
4. 95. In its latest communication, the Government states that the six persons named by the ICFTU were not arrested because of a sympathetic strike or any other action in sympathy with the workers of the Michelin factory in Vitoria. It adds that seven other persons who had formed an underground group called "Communist Youth" were also imprisoned and accused. The group in question received instructions and funds from the Communist Party abroad and planned to produce and disseminate subversive propaganda. The Government adds that evidence was laid before the local authorities and that the accused were provisionally released; one of them, who had not been found, was convicted in his absence.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 96. The Committee notes the information communicated by the Government, which shows that the persons in question are at present the objects of legal proceedings.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 97. In these circumstances, the Committee, following its usual practice in such cases, recommends that the Governing Body:
   • (a) to request the Government to state what court is hearing the case and to provide copies of the judgements once they have been given;
   • (b) to note the present interim report, on the understanding that the Committee will submit a further report to the Governing Body once it has received the information requested from the Government.