Definitive Report - Report No 149, November 1975

Case No 732 (Togo) - Complaint date: 11-DEC-72 - Closed

1. 31. The Committee considered this case at its 67th Session (May 1974), when it submitted a report which appears in paragraphs 61 to 75 of its 144th Report. The Governing Body adopted this report at its 193rd Session (May-June 1974).
2. 32. Togo has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), but has not ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 33. Despite repeated requests by the Committee, the Government made no observations on the allegations. In accordance with the procedure set forth in paragraph 17 of its 127th Report, the Committee, in its 144th Report, therefore submitted its conclusions on the substance of the matter, even though it had not received the observations of the Government.
2. 34. According to the complainants, three trade union organisations were officially recognised in Togo: the Trade Union Workers' Confederation of Togo (CSTT), the National Union of Togolese Workers (UNTT) and the National Higher Education Union (SNES). In November 1971, these bodies had set up a Committee to prepare the ground for their amalgamation. A year later, on a request by the central Committee of the single political party, the Government decided by administrative order to wind up the existing trade union federations and Confederations and announced that it was about to create a single trade union body as part of the governing party. An eight-man board was set up to prepare the ground for the constituent assembly of this new body, called National Confederation of Togolese Workers (CNTT).
3. 35. According to the complainants, the Congress elected Mr. Innocent Toovi, sometime General Secretary of UNTT, as General Secretary of the new organisation, together with all those who had previously sat as officers of the UNTT. The President of the Republic annulled these elections and imposed his own candidate. The Congress, thus subjected to governmental pressure, elected a new executive Committee entirely under the control of the single party in power. Mr. Innocent Toovi was either in hiding or had been arrested.
4. 36. In a telegram dated 6 February 1973, the world Confederation of Labour (WCL) asked that action on the complaint be temporarily suspended but gave no reasons for so doing. The new trade union central organisation, the CNTT, in a communication dated 27 June 1973, explained that the two Togolese trade union Confederations were, in any case, in process of uniting and, the primary trade unions having approved the Government's decision to speed up unification, the Confederations had taken the view that such a step was a "necessary evil" and that all they could do was to face up to the new de facto situation.
5. 37. In considering the case, the Committee emphasised, in connection with the government-imposed amalgamation of trade union organisations, that while both employers and workers generally have an interest in preventing the multiplicity of the number of competing organisations, that consideration did not in itself seem sufficient to justify direct or indirect intervention by the State, and that, while fully understanding a government's desire to promote a strong trade union movement, the Committee took the view that trade union unity so imposed ran counter to the principles of Convention No. 87. As regards the administrative dissolution of the former trade union central organisations, the Committee stressed the importance of the principle that employers' and workers' organisations should not be- subject to suspension or dissolution by administrative authorities.
6. 38. It was not known whether Mr. Innocent Toovi had been arrested or was in hiding but, in any event, he had been prevented from exercising freely the authority bestowed on him by the constituent assembly of the new Confederation. His election, it seemed, had been pronounced null and void and the President of the Republic had imposed his own candidate. In this connection, the Committee recalled that a recommendation made by the authorities and the governing political party concerning the presidency of a country's trade union organisation was incompatible with the right of trade unions to elect their representatives in full freedom.
7. 39. In these circumstances, the Committee recommended the Governing Body to draw the Government's attention to the considerations and principles set forth in paragraphs 37 and 38 above, and to request the Director-General to maintain all appropriate contacts with the Government with a view to obtaining information on the situation of Mr. Innocent Toovi.
8. 40. In a communication dated 18 November 1974, the Government sent in its observations on the substance of the case. It does not appear to have received the letter dated 12 June 1974 in which the Director-General informed it of the conclusions submitted to the Governing Body by the Committee in its 144th Report and adopted by the Governing Body.
9. 41. The three central trade union organisations, according to the Government, had made attempts at unity, following an appeal launched in 1971 by the Togolese People's Rally and had set up a co ordination Committee to this effect. The Committee proved ineffective, however, and several trade union leaders had appealed to the Government for help. A government decision was the more urgent in that one of the organisations concerned (the UNTT) was preparing to hold a statutory congress. Every conceivable problem appeared on the agenda, except that of creating a single national trade union Confederation. After a meeting of the central Committee of the Togolese People's Rally, attended by the leaders of the two major organisations and by the officers of all member unions, the Government had ordered the dissolution of the two existing central trade union organisations, and a Committee was appointed to prepare the ground for a congress at which a single trade union Confederation would be set up. An executive Committee had been appointed, under a trade unionist of nation-wide reputation who had had no part in inter-union quarrels. With its communication, the Government sent the minutes of a trade union meeting held by responsible officers of the two former Confederations. In these minutes, the officers accept the dissolution of the Confederations in question and declare that the complaints lodged by those bodies against the Government are null and void.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 42. The Committee takes note of the information thus supplied by the Government but feels that it in no way modifies its previous conclusions concerning the principles set forth in paragraph 37. Furthermore, the Committee notes that nothing is said about the fate of Mr. Innocent Toovi.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 43. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to recall that the unification of the trade union movement imposed by the Government, either directly or indirectly, and the administrative dissolution of trade union organisations run counter to the provisions of Convention No. 87, ratified by Togo;
   • (b) to request the Director-General to continue to maintain all appropriate contacts with the Government with a view to obtaining information about the fate of Mr. Innocent Toovi.