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

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

1. 87. The Committee examined this case at its November 2011 meeting and on that occasion it requested the Government to send its reply regarding the recent allegations made by the Federation of Peruvian Light and Power Workers (FTLFP) dated 21 and 28 February 2011 (see 362nd Report, paragraph 149). The Committee recalls that the allegations by the FTLFP relate to the following issues: (1) the representatives of the enterprise SN POWER PERU SA have been implementing voluntary redundancy packages with the objective of terminating the employment of unionized workers; among the workers forced to resign in December 2009 were the trade union official Mr Emiliano Melo Coronel and the unionized worker Mr Félix Chirinos Rodríguez; (2) the management policy being implemented by the enterprise is characterized by the harassment of unionized workers and the consequent refusal to grant trade union leave, with agreements being imposed that are below the level of prevailing legislative provisions; and (3) the intention to terminate the employment of trade union members Mr Morales Aliaga and Mr López Barrios.
2. 88. In its communication of 24 February 2012, the Government provides the following information from the enterprise: (1) at the end of 2008 work began on automating operational processes in order to permit the distance monitoring of operations at power stations, and their periodic maintenance; (2) as automation would result in an excess of jobs as from 2008, a voluntary retirement programme was implemented for all technical workers at the enterprise in order to: (i) ensure that all workers could take an informed, free and voluntary decision; (ii) guarantee that the workers who joined the programme would receive greater benefits than those provided by law in the event of termination; and (iii) guarantee the future employability of the terminated workers; (3) the trade union official Mr Emiliano Melo Coronel and the trade unionist Mr Félix Chirinos Rodríguez subscribed to the agreement to terminate the employment contract, plus the payment of benefits, and both made statements before the judicial authority attesting that they had no labour relationship with the enterprise; (4) Mr Sancio Simeón Morales Aliaga and Mr Ricardo Máximo López Barrios remain in service at the enterprise; and (5) with regard to trade union leave, the collective agreement for the period 2011–13 is in force, and with respect to the alleged refusal to provide union premises, the enterprise and the trade union agreed to the sale of a property for a symbolic price to serve as union premises.
3. 89. The Committee notes this information. While noting that according to the information provided the enterprise’s voluntary retirement programme was for all workers and that the trade union official and the union member who joined the programme did so voluntarily – even attesting to the termination of their labour relationship before the judicial authority the Committee observes that neither the Government nor the enterprise have mentioned that they consulted the trade union organizations in the sector about the voluntary retirement programme. In these circumstances, the Committee recalls that it has stated that “when voluntary retirement programmes are carried out, the trade union organizations in the sector should be consulted” [see Digest of decisions and principles of the Freedom of Association Committee, 2006, fifth (revised) edition, para. 1083] and requests the Government to ensure that this principle is observed in the future.