Interim Report - Report No 373, October 2014

Case No 2957 (El Salvador) - Complaint date: 23-MAY-12 - Closed

Allegations: The complainant organization alleges threats and the detention of trade unionists in the context of a dispute relating to collective bargaining in the Ministry of Finance and excessive delays in collective bargaining

1. 283. The Committee examined this case at its meeting in October 2013 and presented an interim report to the Governing Body [see 370th Report, paras 401–412, approved by the Governing Body at its 319th Session (October 2013)].
2. 284. The Government sent its observations in a communication dated 19 May 2014.
3. 285. El Salvador has ratified the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), the Workers’ Representatives Convention, 1971 (No. 135), and the Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No. 151).

A. Previous examination of the case

1. 286. At its meeting in October 2013, the Committee made the following recommendations on the matters still pending [see 370th Report, para. 412]:
   • – The Committee requests the Government to provide as a matter of urgency full information on all of the allegations (including the two union officers’ arrest and detention, their current situation and the police’s alleged failure to take action on death threats which three union members received from transport workers) and on the administrative or judicial proceedings initiated in this regard.
     • …
   • – The Committee requests the complainant and the Government to send information about the current status of the collective bargaining process.

B. The Government’s reply

1. 287. In its communication dated 19 May 2014, the Government states in relation to the alleged detention of Ms Krissia Meny Guadalupe Flores and Ms Odilia Dolores Marroquín Cornejo, who, according to the complaint presented, are the Secretary for Women’s Issues and the Secretary-General of the executive committee of the Union of Workers of the Ministry of Finance (SITRAMHA), on 30 November 2011, at the El Amatillo customs office, that the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare has conducted the relevant consultations, from which it appears that the allegations of the arrest and detention of the trade unionists are untrue and without any legal basis. The documentation provided by the National Civil Police indicates that the procedure followed on 30 November 2011 at the El Amatillo customs office by police officers consisted of providing protection to the persons referred to above, who were inside the customs administrator’s office, when a mob of road transport workers tried to enter and assault them. The police officers took them into custody as a safety measure until a vehicle from the General Directorate of Customs, which transports customs officials, arrived to evacuate them. At no time were they detained. The Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Republic has also indicated that the persons referred to above were never reported as detainees by the National Civil Police and no complaints against them are either currently under investigation or have been closed.
2. 288. In view of the above, the Government considers that there is no legitimate basis for the complaint and that the case should be closed.

C. The Committee’s conclusions

1. 289. With regard to the allegations concerning: (1) the detention of two trade union leaders (Ms Krissia Meny Guadalupe Flores and Ms Odilia Dolores Marroquín Cornejo); (2) the alleged sexual intimidation suffered by the Secretary-General Ms Krissia Meny Guadalupe Flores; and (3) the refusal to provide protection to two trade unionists and to a trade union leader (Mr Jorge Augusto Hernández Velásquez), who had received death threats from some road transport workers; the Committee notes the Government’s statements to the effect that the trade unionists were not detained, but were protected from a mob of road transport workers threatening to assault them when they were in the customs administrator’s office, and were taken to a vehicle used to transport employees of the General Directorate of Customs in order to evacuate the trade unionists as a safety measure.
2. 290. The Committee notes this information and also that, according to the Government, no proceedings have been initiated against these trade unionists. Given that the versions of the complainant and the Government relating to the alleged detentions are contradictory, the Committee invites the complainant union to provide additional information.
3. 291. The Committee notes with regret that, despite being expressly requested to do so, the Government has not sent any information about the current status of the collective bargaining process that began in November 2010 between the complainant trade union and the Ministry of Finance. In this respect, the Committee recalls that the Civil Service Tribunal had issued an order initiating arbitration procedures, which were delayed as a result of the reallocation of the arbitrators appointed by the Ministry of Finance [see 370th Report, para. 404]. The Committee therefore requests the Government to keep it informed in this respect.
4. 292. The Committee regrets that the Government has not sent its observations on the death threats against three trade unionists, who were allegedly threatened by international road transport workers with being burned alive, and to whom the police allegedly denied police protection [see 370th Report, para. 406]. The Committee notes in this respect that the complainant organization only indicated the full name of one of the threatened trade unionists (Mr Jorge Augusto Hernández Velásquez), but not of the other two. The Committee requests the complainant organization to provide additional information to the Government and the Committee, and to indicate the names of the other two trade unionists and whether a criminal complaint has been lodged with the Office of the Public Prosecutor in respect of the alleged threats. The Committee also requests the Government to provide full information on these allegations and, if the allegations are confirmed, to provide protection to the trade unionists in question.

The Committee’s recommendations

1. 293. In the light of its foregoing interim conclusions, the Committee invites the Governing Body to approve the following recommendations:
   • (a) As the versions of the complainant organization and the Government relating to the alleged detention of two trade unionists are contradictory, the Committee invites the complainant union to provide additional information.
   • (b) The Committee requests the complainant organization to provide additional information to the Government and the Committee, and to indicate whether it has lodged a criminal complaint with the Office of the Public Prosecutor in respect of the alleged threats made by road transport workers to kill three trade unionists, who were denied police protection, and to indicate the full names of the trade unionists in question (only the name of Mr Jorge Augusto Hernández Velásquez was mentioned in the allegations). The Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on these allegations and, if the allegations are confirmed, to provide protection to the trade unionists in question.
   • (c) The Committee requests the Government to keep it informed about the result of the arbitration procedures initiated by the Civil Service Tribunal regarding collective bargaining between the complainant trade union and the Ministry of Finance.