Definitive Report - Report No 158, November 1976

Case No 835 (Spain) - Complaint date: 12-JAN-76 - Closed

1. 250. This complaint by the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) was made in a telegram dated 12 January 1976, and further information was supplied in a communication dated 20 January 1974. The Government of Spain replied by a letter dated 18 February 1976, which arrived too late to be considered by the Committee at its session in February 1976.
2. 251. 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. 252. In the first of its communications, the WFTU alleged that, on 10 January 1976, in Madrid, the police arrested 27 trade union activists attending a trade union meeting, among them Adolfo Pinedo, Secretary to the works council of "Standard Eléctrica" (a Spanish subsidiary of ITT), and a member of the metalworkers' provincial Committee. The metalworkers, the WFTU stated, were on strike in defence of their legitimate interests. The complainants considered that continued repression proved that a policy hostile to, the workers' movement was still being pursued, and demanded the reestablishment of democratic and trade union rights and freedoms, together with the immediate release of the arrested trade unionists.
2. 253. In the communication dated 20 January 1976, the complainants added that the aim of the strike was to put an end to the wage freeze and to secure freedom of association; the movement had spread to various occupations and industries and to various parts of Spain. The police were intervening ever more frequently, and more than 100 workers' delegates had been arrested on 15 January. The complainants stated that post-office and railway employees were no longer allowed to strike and that they have been, requisitioned and put under military control. The police, the complainants claimed, were violently dispersing workers' meetings and demonstrations.
3. 254. The Government, in its reply, stated that none of the persons referred to by the WFTU had been prosecuted, and that all of them were at liberty.

B. B. The Committee's conclusions

1. 255. The Committee notes these releases with interest but would point out that the arrest of a large number of trade union leaders creates a grave risk of abuse and is a danger to freedom of association. In the past, the Committee has on many occasions drawn attention to the possibility of abuse involved in the mobilisation or requisitioning of workers in industrial disputes and has emphasised the undesirability of recourse to such measures except for the purpose of maintaining essential services in circumstances of the utmost gravity.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 256. In these circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to note that all the persons mentioned by the complainants have been released; and
   • (b) to draw the Government's attention to the considerations set forth in the preceding paragraph concerning the arrest of strikers and trade union leaders and the mobilisation or requisition of workers on the occasion of labour disputes.
     • INTERIM CONCLUSIONS IN THE CASE RELATING TO THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC (CASE No. 774) AND BENIN (CASE No. 824)