Definitive Report - Report No 259, November 1988

Case No 1410 (Liberia) - Complaint date: 10-JUN-87 - Closed

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INTRODUCTION
A. The complainant's allegations
G. Tarbah as the union's president and the Minister, by letter of 20 October,
C. The Committee's conclusions
The Committee's recommendations

83. In a communication dated 10 June 1987 the National Seamen, Ports and
- General Workers' Union of Liberia (NSP-GWU) presented a complaint of
- violations of trade union rights against the Government of Liberia. The
- Government sent its observations on the case in a communication dated 4 May
1988 and received in the ILO on 19 July 1988.
84. Liberia has ratified both the Freedom of Association and Protection of
- the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Right to Organise and
- Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

A. The complainant's allegations

85. In its letter of 10 June 1987 signed by Mr. T.P. Mooney, Vice-President
- for Administration, the NSP-GWU alleges interference by the Labour Ministry
- authorities in its internal affairs, namely in the outcome of the election of
- its president.
86. The complainant states that, in accordance with its by-laws and
- constitution, the union's general convention was held on 29 August 1986. The
- Director of Trade Union Affairs of the Ministry of Labour supervised the
- convention in accordance with the Labour Practices Law of Liberia. Recognition
- and other relevant documents were then handed over to the legitimate
- leadership of the union. Indeed, from copies of letters appended to the
- complaint, it appears that, on 1 September 1986, the union's president elect
- submitted to the Labour Ministry authorities the documents required for
- recognition (list of names of elected officers and minutes of the meeting). On
11 September, the Minister in turn informed the President of Liberia that the
- results of the union's election clearly showed that the union members did not
- want a certain Mr. G.T. Tarbah as president (who received zero votes) and
- preferred Mr. N. Gibson (who received all the votes of the 30 delegates
- attending the convention). The Minister pointed out that under the legislation
- in force, any candidate to the election proceedings may file with the Ministry
- of Labour written objections to the conduct of the election within 24 hours
- after receiving the tally of votes; any person or organisation not a party to
- the election proceedings may file written objections to the conduct of the
- election within five calendar days after the tally of votes has been received
- by the parties to the election. In addition, he indicated that if no
- objections is filed within the allowed time, or after all objections have been
- finally determined, the Ministry of Labour shall certify the party receiving
- the valid votes of the majority of members voting in the election, said
- certification being final and conclusive and not subject to further
- objections. Since the Ministry of Labour had not received any written
- objections from any party, the Minister stated that Mr. N. Gibson was
- recognised as the legitimate president of the union, in keeping with the
- decision of its members.
87. The complainant states that it therefore came as a surprise when, on 13
- October 1986, the President of Liberia replied to the Minister of Labour,
- noting with concern that, while an NSP-GWU complaint to the President's Office
- was still being investigated by his legal adviser, a handful of union members
- had been able to hold an election. The President's reply, a copy of which is
- supplied by the complainant, states that, on the basis of the report resulting
- from this investigation and the agreement of merger between the two factions
- that were before the Liberian Supreme Court, the legitimate president of the
  - NSP-GWU is Mr. G. Tarbah. The President directed the Minister to recognise Mr.

G. Tarbah as the union's president and the Minister, by letter of 20 October,

accordingly did so.
1. 88 The complainant points out that the original recognition of Mr. N.
Gibson's presidency has still not been revoked. Lastly, it provides a copy of
a Supreme Court Certificate, dated 19 December 1984 and signed by the Acting
Clerk of Court, to the effect that George T. Tarbah had been convicted of
theft of property and was sentenced on that date to three years' imprisonment
with hard labour.
B. The Government's reply
1. 89 In its reply of 4 May 1988, the Government denies the allegations
concerning the results of the NSP-GWU convention of 29 August 1986 and the
granting of a letter of recognition from the Ministry. It states that, while
it is true that a convention was held on that date with the Ministry of Labour
being invited to monitor it, the meeting was not held in accordance with the
union's by-laws and constitution because, as the minutes of the convention
show, representatives from only three of the NSP-GWU's 13 membership regions
(the counties of Nimba, Grand Bassa and Montserrado) were present and only 30
delegates from the three counties in fact voted at the election. Moreover,
certain members of the union had filed a complaint against Mr. Mooney (who was
later elected Vice-President for Administration) and others, and this
complaint was under investigation when he held the convention in question.
Therefore, states the Government, the meeting was void from the beginning.
1. 90 As regards the allegation that the President of the Republic ordered the
Ministry of Labour to recognise Mr. Tarbah as president of the union contrary
to the election results, the Government denies this, stressing that there was
no valid election since the convention was invalid. Moreover, it claims that
the Ministry of Labour only received a letter calling its attention to the
fact that a complaint had been filed by certain union members against Mr.
Mooney and others and the investigation into the complaint should have been
completed before any election took place.
1. 91 As for the allegation that the Ministry's letter of recognition had not
been revoked by the authorities, the Government states that, since the
convention was void from the beginning, the letter of recognition reflecting
the election results was also null and void. According to the Government, the
legitimate leaders of the union were duly informed after it was discovered
that the convention had not respected the required quorum.
1. 92 In conclusion, the Government points out that it has ratified
Conventions Nos. 87 and 98 and has given effect to the provisions of these
Conventions through its laws and national practice.

C. The Committee's conclusions

93. The Committee notes that the allegations in this case centre on
government interference in the internal affairs of the complainant union by
refusing to accept the results of the union's 1986 election of officers. The
Committee takes note of the Government's denial of interference, based on the
fact that the elections in question were void on two grounds: (1) a complaint
was being investigated by the presidential legal adviser into one group of the
union's members headed by Mr. Mooney, so he ought not to have convened a
meeting; and (2) under the union's by-laws a voting quorum had not been
obtained for the election. The Committee observes that an attachment to the
complaint refers vaguely to a merger agreement between "the two factions" but
that no mention is made of this in the Government's more recent observations,
inferring that no merger ever came about.
94. In past cases when the Committee has been presented with situations in
which government authorities appear to have interfered in election results by
favouring or recognising one internal group over another, the Committee has
recalled (See, for example, 243rd Report, Case No. 1271 (Honduras), paras. 435
and 438.) that, in ratifying Convention No. 87, a government undertakes to
leave it to workers' organisations themselves to draw up their own
constitutions and rules and to elect their representatives in full freedom. In
the present case, an examination of the labour legislation in question shows
that section 4102 of the Labour Practices Law provides for the supervision by
the administrative authorities of trade union elections and the Committee
notes that the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and
Recommendations has criticised this discrepancy with Article 3 of Convention
No. 87 for many years. In its 1988 observation on Liberia's observance of that
Convention, the Committee of Experts noted that, according to the Government,
a new draft Labour Code had taken account of the Committee's comments and it
urged the Government to ensure the adoption of the necessary amendments in the
near future. To date, however, it appears that there has been no repeal or
amendment of section 4102 of the law.
95. The facts of this case show, however, that the government reaction was
of a different kind: Mr. Mooney's group (which lodged this complaint) received
a letter of recognition from the Ministry of Labour, but the Ministry
subsequently reversed its position after receiving orders from a higher
authority. Since neither the complainant nor the Government supplied a copy of
the union's by-laws concerning the requirements for convening meetings or
election quorums, the Committee is not in a position to comment on the alleged
procedural irregularities. In any case, the Committee notes that, since 20
October 1986 when the Ministry executed the President's orders, Mr. G. Tarbah
has represented the workers of Liberia at the 75th (1988) Session of the
International Labour Conference.
96. It is not for the Committee to decide which group should represent the
members of the NSP-GWU but to examine whether there was government
interference with the workers' free choice of union officers. The Committee
has stated in many cases that it is not competent to make recommendations on
internal dissensions within a trade union organisation so long as the
Government does not intervene in a manner which might affect the exercise of
trade union rights and the normal functioning of an organisation. (See, for
example, 217th Report, Case No. 1086 (Greece), para. 93.) Moreover, in cases
of internal conflict, the Committee has pointed out that judicial intervention
would permit a clarification of the situation from the legal point of view for
the purpose of settling questions concerning the representation of the union
concerned; another possible means of settlement would be to appoint an
independent jointly-agreed-upon arbitrator to seek a joint solution and, if
necessary, to hold new elections. (See, for example, 172nd Report, Case No.
865 (Ecuador), para. 75.)
97. In the present case, the Committee notes that procedures exist to settle
questionable election results: section 4103(2) and (3) of the Labour Practices
Law empower, respectively, any union member to challenge the election of a
person convicted of a crime and to complain of violation of the law or the
rules of the union concerned as regards the election of officers and that such
a complaint can then be submitted by the labour authorities to the ordinary
courts for an order to set aside the invalid election and to direct the
conduct of a new one. In this connection, the Committee further notes that Mr.
G. Tarbah had been convicted in 1984 of theft of property and that, likewise,
an unspecified complaint against Mr. Mooney and his group was before the
presidential legal adviser in August 1986. Yet, despite the availability of
this appeals procedure, no complaint was filed against the Ministry's
recognition of Mr. G. Tarbah in October 1986. It therefore appears that the
membership has accepted Mr. Tarbah's presidency of the union, even if Mr.
Mooney's group did not.
98. In any event, taking a pragmatic approach to this case, the Committee
notes from the legislation that national labour organisation elections should
take place every three years, so that the next election of officers for the
NSP-GWU is due in the second half of 1989. In the next elections, both groups
will be able to present candidates and, hopefully, the new Labour Code will
then be in force to ensure that the union's elections will not be supervised
or interfered with by the authorities. In the meantime, if the internal
dissension within the NSP-GWU starts to affect the functioning and
effectiveness of the union, the general membership will no doubt seek a
settlement along the lines suggested by the Committee above.

The Committee's recommendations

99. In the light of its foregoing conclusions, the Committee invites the
- Governing Body to approve the following recommendations:
  - a) in line with the request expressed this year by the Committee of Experts
- on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, the Committee trusts
- that the new labour legislation, which will no longer permit government
- intervention in union elections, will be rapidly adopted;
  - b) while noting that the allegations are linked to internal dissension
- within the union, the Committee considers that it is for the general
- membership to decide, if necessary, whether to call for the help of an
- independent arbitrator or for new elections or to wait for next year's
  - re-elections to vote for whichever group best represents the members'
- interests.