Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 321, June 2000

Case No 1926 (Peru) - Complaint date: 10-APR-97 - Closed

Effect given to the recommendations of the Committee and the Governing Body

1. 63. The Committee last examined this case at its meeting in June 1998 and on that occasion requested the Government to: (1) take the necessary steps to recognize the SUTREL trade union sector's right to represent its members and to bargain collectively on conditions of employment, at least on behalf of its own members; and (2) communicate the findings of the investigation into the alleged anti-union dismissals of officers of several trade union organizations (all the leaders of the Union of Backus and Johnson Brewery Workers and of the Brewery Federation of Peru, the northern region undersecretary of the CGTP, officers of the Single Union of Lighting and Power Workers of Electro Ucayali and an officer of the Single Union of Workers of Electroperú of the Interconnected System) [see 310th Report, paras. 48-52].
2. 64. In a communication dated 8 February 2000, with regard to the matter of recognition of the SUTREL trade union sector's right to represent its members and bargain collectively on conditions of employment, at least on behalf of its own members, the Government states that the administrative authorities declared inadmissible the list of demands presented by the trade union sector in question, and as a result of this the company Luz del Sur S.A. signed a collective agreement with the majority of its employees, it being agreed that the benefits would be enjoyed by all the workers, since the agreement in question had been concluded with 50 per cent of the workforce.
3. 65. The Committee takes note of this information. It draws the Government's attention to the fact that it has stated on many occasions that direct negotiation between the undertaking and its employees, bypassing representative organizations where these exist, might be detrimental to the principle that negotiation between employers and organizations of workers should be encouraged and promoted [see Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, 4th edition, 1996, para. 785]. Under these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the Unified Trade Union of Electricity Workers of Lima and Callao (SUTREL) can bargain collectively on its members' conditions of employment. Lastly, the Committee deeply regrets the fact that the Government has not supplied any information on the findings of the investigation - which it had announced in 1998 - into the alleged dismissals of a large number of trade union officers in 1997. Under these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government to take measures to ensure that the investigation in question is concluded in the near future and, if it is found that the trade union officials in question were dismissed because of their status of trade union officers or trade union activities, that they are immediately reinstated in their posts and receive any arrears of wages owed to them.