Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 367, March 2013

Case No 2833 (Peru) - Complaint date: 10-DEC-10 - Closed

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

1. 100. The Committee last examined this case at its June 2012 meeting and, on that occasion, on examining allegations concerning violations of the right to collective bargaining and acts of anti-union discrimination by Proyecto Especial CORAH, made the following recommendations [see 364th Report, para. 828]:
   • (a) The Committee requests the Government to ensure that the union SUTCORAH can make use of support from its two advisers in practice in collective bargaining, if it so wishes.
   • (b) With regard to the allegation concerning a compulsory register of signatures for non unionized workers and the allegation that, on the day on which these signatures were first collected, CORAH area directors urged the workers not to attend a meeting that had been called by the union on 17 March 2010 with CORAH’s authorization, the Committee observes that the Government has not responded fully and requests it to hold a further investigation and, to keep it informed in this respect so that it can re-examine these allegations in full knowledge of the facts.
   • (c) The Committee requests the Government to communicate to it the outcome of the proceedings currently in progress concerning the dismissal of the union leader Mr Bazán Villanueva.
   • (d) With regard to the alleged forced resignation of six workers from the union under threat of rescission of their contracts, the Committee notes the Government’s denial of these allegations and the threats and its report that a labour inspection was conducted on 23 March 2009, in which three of these workers stated that they had left the union voluntarily. The Committee draws attention to the complainant organization’s claim that the resignations were written on the same day and used the same format and type of paper. The Committee observes that the Government has not made any reference to these claims and requests it to conduct a further investigation into this issue.
   • (e) The Committee requests the Government to send it a copy of the administrative appeal lodged by CORAH in which it declares SUTCORAH’s registration invalid, and to communicate the text of the administrative decision in order that it should have enough information to make a judgement on the allegations.
2. 101. In a communication of 9 June 2012, the Single Union of Workers at CORAH (SUTCORAH) states that, given the impossibility of bargaining on the lists of demands submitted to the employer in 2009, 2010 and 2011, it has requested arbitration proceedings, which are currently before the Ucayali regional government. The SUTCORAH alleges further that between 31 January 2011 and 8 January 2012, over 14 unionized workers were invited to resign from membership.
3. 102. In its communication of 29 August 2012, the Government reports with regard to recommendation (a), that Proyecto Especial CORAH was inspected and that the trade union (CORAH Trade Union) reported that its legal adviser was authorized to enter the premises to participate in collective bargaining and that the representative of the union is authorized to enter the workplace to take part in informal meetings and collective bargaining. With regard to recommendation (b), the Government states that inspectors of the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion reported that during interviews it was denied that non unionized workers were entered on a register and that, although the meeting referred to was held on 17 March 2010, it was only attended by unionized staff. The Government adds that, according to information from the trade union, out-of-date registers do not exist. With regard to recommendation (c), the Government reports that the proceedings contesting dismissal filed by Mr Iván Bazán Villanueva in 2009 (judicial proceedings No. 00044-2009-0-2402-JR-LA-01) are currently pending before the judiciary. With regard to recommendation (d), the Government reports that it interviewed the workers concerned, who stated the following: (i) Mr Manihuari has resumed his trade union membership, and his first resignation from membership was due to a disagreement with the then Secretary-General, Mr Bazán Villanueva; (ii) Mr Rodríguez stated that he had left the union owing to disagreement with Mr Bazán Villanueva and that he was currently a member of the union; he also maintained that he had never been pressured to leave the union; (iii) Mr Saavedra Cartagena said that he had left the union without having been pressured in any way or been offered economic incentives; and (iv) the workers Mr Linder Ibarra Zabaleta and Mr César Wilfredo Vergara were on secondment and Mr Aquiles del Águila Ruiz was on medical leave. With regard to recommendation (e), the Government states that the Regional Directorate for Labour and Employment Promotion issued a decision finding the appeal filed by CORAH unfounded.
4. 103. The Committee takes note of this information. While recalling that “justice delayed is justice denied” [see Digest of decisions and principles of the Committee on Freedom of Association, fifth (revised) edition, 2006, para. 105], the Committee hopes that the judicial authority will issue a ruling in the very near future in the proceedings contesting dismissal filed by Mr Iván Bazán Villanueva in 2009 and requests the Government to keep it informed in this regard. Furthermore, the Committee requests the Government to send its observations relating to the new allegations submitted by the complainant concerning the difficulties faced by SUTCORAH with regard to bargaining on lists of demands with CORAH and concerning the invitations to resign from the union sent to unionized workers between January 2011 and January 2012.