Definitive Report - Report No 143, 1974

Case No 748 (Brazil) - Complaint date: 12-FEB-73 - Closed

1. 89. The complaint from the World Federation of Trade Unions is contained in a communication dated 12 February 1973. The complaint was transmitted to the Government, which furnished its observations in a letter dated 29 January 1974.
2. 90. Brazil has not ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87). It has, however, ratified the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. A. The complainants' allegations

1. 91. The WFTU alleged that the National Confederation of Credit Employees (CONTEC), an organisation with 450,000 members (bank and insurance employees), had its Executive Committee appointed direct by the Ministry of Labour after the latter had vetoed the Committee elected democratically by the members of CONTEC.
2. 92. The WFTU encloses with its communication an article from the magazine Folha Bancaria (dated November-December 1972) dealing with the matter. The article states that a Decree dated 18 October 1972 replaced the Executive Committee of CONTEC by a Supervisory Committee (Junta interventora), substituting a representative of the Ministry of Labour for one of its members. Two bank employees were accepted by the Ministry to make up a three-man supervisory board but these employees resigned from the board, thus leaving the Confederation entirely in the hands of the third member, an official of the Ministry of Labour and Social welfare.
3. 93. The article adds that elections for a new Executive Committee were to be held on 8 October 1972 but that the Ministry of Labour vetoed the candidature of ten persons, whose names were on the proposed single list, thus preventing the elections from taking place. In particular the veto concerned the economist, Ruy de Brito, who had been the CONTEC leader for some years. Nevertheless the Department of Security and Information of the Ministry of Labour informed several trade union leaders that this veto did not mean that Ruy de Brito was considered to be "a Communist or corrupt". According to the newspaper Estato de Sao Paulo, the opinions of Ruy de Brito on the subject of the Government's wages policy, the Length of Service Guarantee Fund, the Social Integration Plan and his own central trade union organisation were enough to prevent his candidature from being accepted.
4. 94. Quoting another newspaper, the periodical Folha Bancaria states that Ruy de Brito had fallen out of favour with the Ministry of Labour. According to various sources and in particular to Ruy de Brito himself, this was because of the opinions he had expressed on various social issues. In particular he had protested against the interference of the Ministry of Labour in the affairs of the bank employees' union of Guanabara.
5. 95. The Government, in its communication, states that the complaint is unjustified under Brazilian domestic law. The Government specifies that, under section 521 of the consolidation of Labour Laws, trade unions are not authorised to exercise political activities. However, the Government adds, the CONTEC executive carried on political activities completely contrary to the law by spreading doctrines incompatible with the national institutions. Moreover, activist groups belonging to a party that is not recognised by law are said to have met at the union's headquarters. Consequently, the Ministry was obliged to inform the CONTEC executive that it did not meet the legal requirements for re-election.
6. 96. The Government adds that since the union was unable to agree on the new candidates to be presented for election, a provisional administration had to be organised. To make up this interim body, the union proposed two bank employees and the Ministry of Labour an accountant. The civil servant, the Government points out, was therefore in the minority, but since the employees resigned, the Ministry of Labour had to appoint substitutes while awaiting the next elections.
7. 97. Lastly, the Government states that the present executive of the union is of a purely temporary nature, that it is merely carrying out routine functions until new elections are held and that it is the consequence of a crisis caused by the former administration.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 98. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, the political activities of the executive of CONTEC are the cause of the measures taken against it. The Committee thinks it appropriate to recall the opinion it has expressed that if trade unions are prohibited in general terms from engaging in any political activities this may raise difficulties by reason of the fact that the interpretation given to such provisions in practice may change at any moment and considerably restrict the possibility of action of the organisations. It would therefore seem that States should be able, without prohibiting in general terms political activities by occupational organisations, to entrust to the judicial authorities the task of repressing abuses which might, in certain cases, be committed by organisations which had lost sight of the fact that their fundamental objective should be the economic and social advancement of their members.
2. 99. Moreover, in a number of cases, the Committee has stated that the principles of freedom of association do not prohibit control of the internal activities of a trade union when the latter infringes the law (which should not, however, be such as to undermine the principles of freedom of association), but it has considered it to be of maximum importance that, in order to guarantee an impartial and objective procedure, the control should be exercised by the relevant judicial authority.
3. 100. As regards the measures taken against the executive of CONTEC, the Committee notes that for more than 15 months the Confederation has been managed by a body appointed by the Ministry of Labour and that apparently it has not been possible to organise elections because this Ministry has vetoed certain candidates.
4. 101. The Committee wishes to recall in this connection that in previous cases concerning Brazil, it has considered that the placing of trade union organisations under control entailed a serious danger of restricting the rights of workers' organisations to elect their representatives in full freedom and to organise their administration and activities.
5. 102. The Committee has also pointed out that the removal from office of trade union leaders in cases where infringements of the law or of the internal rules have been proved as well as the appointment of temporary administrators, should be effected through the courts. The Committee has also considered that, for the taking over of a union by the authorities to be admissible, it must be temporary and designed solely to allow free elections to be organised.
6. 103. The Committee has, moreover, always emphasised the importance it attaches to the principle that workers and their organisations should have the right to elect their representatives in full freedom and to organise their administration and activities.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 104. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to draw the attention of the Government to the principles and considerations set forth in paragraphs 98, 99, 101, 102 and 103 above and in particular to the principle that workers and their organisations should have the right to elect their representatives in full freedom and to organise their administration and activities, and that the public authorities should refrain from any interference which would restrict this right or impede the lawful exercise thereof;
   • (b) to invite the Government to take the necessary measures for free elections to be held as soon as possible in order to appoint a new executive of CONTEC;
   • (c) to invite the Government, in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraph 25 of the 127th Report of the Committee, to inform it, before the Committee's session in November 1974, of the measures taken to allow free elections to be held.