Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 327, March 2002

Case No 1978 (Gabon) - Complaint date: 27-JUL-98 - Closed

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

1. 58. The Committee last examined this case, which concerns the existence and free functioning of trade union structures of the Gabonese Confederation of Free Trade Unions (CGSL) in the SOCOFI enterprise and the dismissal of trade unionists for exercising their right to strike, at its June 2001 meeting [see 325th Report, paras. 29-33]. At that time, it requested the Government to confirm the existence and free functioning of the CGSL trade union in the SOCOFI enterprise. The Committee had further asked the Government to keep it informed of the decision of the Court of Appeal on the legality of the strike launched by the CGSL at the SOCOFI enterprise in 1997.
2. 59. In its communication dated 16 November 2001, the Government sent a copy of the minutes of a meeting that took place in September 2001 at the Directorate-General of Labour between the Director for International Relations, CGSL representatives and the SOCOFI enterprise. The Government states that following this meeting, both partners agreed to the resumption of CGSL trade union structure activities at SOCOFI. However, in view of the current fall in the volume of work at SOCOFI, the CGSL officers decided to suspend their activities until the enterprise experienced an upturn in its operations. Moreover, the Government indicates that the decision on the legality of the strike at the SOCOFI enterprise is still on appeal before the Libreville Labour Court and it will not fail to keep the Committee informed in this regard.
3. 60. The Committee takes note of this information. With regard to the resumption of CGSL activities at SOCOFI, the Committee welcomes the Government’s initiative in summoning the parties concerned to a meeting, which enabled this issue to be resolved. As regards the decision concerning the legality of the strike at the SOCOFI enterprise, the Committee can only deplore the fact that more than four years after the strike was launched, the workers who were dismissed for involvement in the strike are still awaiting the Court’s decision. The Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures – if the strike is ruled to have been lawful – to ensure that the workers dismissed for exercising the right to strike are reinstated in their posts without loss of pay or, if this is not possible, that they be compensated. The Committee again asks the Government to notify it of the decision of the Labour Court as soon as the decision is handed down.