Interim Report - Report No 236, November 1984

Case No 1258 (El Salvador) - Complaint date: 26-JAN-84 - Closed

1. 513. The complaints are contained in communications from the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) dated respectively 26 January and 6 April 1984. The Government replied in communications dated 25 July and 12 and 24 October 1984.
2. 514. El Salvador 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. The complainants' allegations

1. 515. The WFTU alleges that on 19 January 1984 the Government of El Salvador handed over to the military courts a group of 11 union members and leaders of the Electrical Energy Workers' Trade Union who had been taken into custody on 23 August 1980 for coming out on strike at their place of work in order to obtain an increase in wages. Those concerned are Héctor Bernabé Recinos, Santos Rivera, José Arnulfo Grande, Arcadio Randa, Chedor Ascendio, Jorge A. Valencia, José Valencia, Francisco Ramos, Alfredo Hernández, Orlando Machuca and Jorge Artiga. The WFTU says that the charges brought against them have not yet been made public and that they may be sentenced to death or to more severe penalties than could be handed down by the civil courts.
2. 516. The WFTU adds that coffee plantation leaders Isabel Flores, José Rico Amayas Checa, Julio César González López, Santos Valentín Velásquez and Rafael Martín Mendoza, who were arrested in December 1983 in the western department of Sonsonete, are in a similar situation.
3. 517. The ICFTU alleges the arrest of Carlos Someta, Secretary-General of the Union of Workers of the National Water and Sewage Administration and requests the ILO to intercede with the Government to guarantee the personal safety of Salvador Carazo, Secretary-General of the Federation of Construction Industry Trade Unions (FESINCONSTRANS), whose life has repeatedly been threatened. Specifically, Mr. Carazo was obliged to abandon his home with his family because a group of armed civilians went to his house to take him prisoner although they failed to do so because he was absent at the time.

B. The Government's reply

1. 518. With its communication dated 25 July 1984, the Government encloses an official note from the Military Court of First Instance dated 8 March 1984 containing information on the state of the trial of the 11 union leaders and members of the Electrical Energy Workers' Trade Union (STECEL) referred to by the WFTU. The note indicates that proceedings in respect of trial No. 244/80, for acts of terrorism involving the seizing of public installations and cutting of the national electrical energy supply, have been temporarily staged and 55 defendants have been released but that the Supreme Court of Justice has ordered that proceedings against 11 other defendants, including Héctor Bernabé Recinos, Santos Rivera, José Arnulfo Grande, Arcadio Rauda against whom legal grounds for arrest exist, be continued. The official note also indicates that Decree No. 210 containing the amnesty and civil rehabilitation Act does not apply to these 11 defendants as they have committed political offences punishable by more than four years' imprisonment.
2. 519. In its communications of 12 and 24 October 1984, the Government states that the STECEL trade union leader Héctor Bernabé Recinos and another nine STECEL members (whose names are given) were released on 10 October 1984. The Government supplies no information on Jorge Artigas.

C. The Committee's conclusions

1. 520. Regarding the arrest and trial of 11 union leaders and members of. the Electrical Energy Workers' Trade Union taken into custody on 23 August 1980, the Committee notes that, according to information supplied by the Government, these persons were being tried by the military court for acts of terrorism involving the seizing of public installations and cutting of the national electrical energy supply (offences that are considered to be political in nature and punishable by more than four years' imprisonment). It also notes that ten of them have been released.
2. 521. In view of the lack of details supplied by the Government concerning the specific facts with which the 11 union members were charged (it merely states that they allegedly committed acts of terrorism involving the seizing of public installations and cutting of the national electrical energy supply) and bearing in mind that, according to the complainants, the persons concerned were arrested for trade union reasons and specifically, for having come out on strike in order to obtain wage increases, the Committee draws the Government's attention to the fact that the detention or sentencing of trade union leaders or members for reasons connected with their activities in defence of the interests of workers constitutes a serious interference with civil liberties in general and with trade union rights in particular [see, for example, 234th Report, Case No. 1040 (Central African Republic), para. 479.] The Committee notes that one STECEL unionist (Jorge Artigas) is apparently still detained and on trial and it accordingly requests the Government to indicate the specific facts with which he is charged, as well as to supply information on developments in his trial so' that it can come to a decision on this matter in full knowledge of the facts. The Committee wishes to express concern at the fact that this trade unionist is apparently being tried by the military court and requests the Government to explain why this matter is apparently before the military rather than the civil courts.
3. 522. Finally, the Committee regrets that the Government has not replied to the remaining allegations (arrest and trial of the coffee plantation leaders Isabel Flores, José Rico Amayas Checa, Julio César González López, Santos Valentín Velásquez and Rafael Martín Mendoza; arrest of Carlos Someta, Secretary-General of the Union of Workers of the National Water and Sewage Administration; and threats on the life of FESINCONSTRANS union leader Salvador Carazo by a group of armed civilians and their attempts to take him prisoner). The Committee insists upon the-Government replying to these allegations at a matter of urgency.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 523. In the circumstances, the Committee recommends the Governing Body to approve this interim report and, in particular, the following conclusions.
   • (a) Regarding the arrest and trial of 11 union leaders and members of the Electrical Energy Workers' Trade Union, the Committee notes that ten have been released; it requests the Government to indicate the specific facts with which the unionist who remains in detention (Jorge Artigas) is charged and to inform it of developments in his trial so that it can come to a decision on the matter in full knowledge of the facts. The Committee nevertheless wishes to express concern at the fact that this trade unionist is apparently being tried by the military court and requests the Government to explain why this matter is apparently before the military rather than the civil courts.
   • (b) In view of the lack of detail supplied by the Government on the specific facts which led to the arrest and trial of these trade unionists, the Committee draws the Government's attention to the fact that the detention or sentencing of union leaders or members for reasons connected with their activities in defence of the interests of workers constitutes a serious interference with civil liberties in general and with trade union rights in particular.
   • (c) Furthermore, the Committee regrets that the Government has not replied to the remaining allegations (arrest and trial of the coffee plantation leaders Isabel Flores, José Rico Amayas Checa, Julio César González López, Santos Valentin Velásquez and Rafael Martín Mendoza; arrest of Carlos Someta, Secretary-General of the Union of Workers of the National Water and Sewage Administration; and threats on the life of FESINCONSTRANS union leader Salvador Carazo by a group of armed civilians and their attempts to take him prisoner). The Committee insists upon the Government replying to these allegations as a matter of urgency.