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Minutes of the Governing Body 27.11.53
regard to eight cases, including Case No. 68 cof cerning Colombia, said that the tøvernment Colombia hul ne objection to his proposal. wished, however, to draw the attention of the Governing Body and of the Committee on Freedom of Association to the fact that the complaints presented by various agricultural trade unions of, Albania, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy and France were of a political and tendentious character and had, nothing to do with freedom of association. The source from which these complaints came was suffi- cient to indicate the nature of their objective.
Document No. 3 Iwith regard to those two points it was proposed that the Governing Body should accept a compreraise in respect of the communication of the governments' replies to complainants and should adjourn conside- ration of the recommendation concerning the hearing of parties. The Workers were not satisfied with this compromise and did not believe that it would solve the problem on a permanent basis. In the interests of unanimity, however, they were prepared to accept it as an interim measure on the under- standing that the question should remain open for rther consideration together with the question of e hearing of complainants and of governments.
Mr. Garcia Oldini said that, subject to the inter- pretation already given by Mr. Calderón Puig, he also accepted the proposal of Mr. Ramadier, and expressed his appreciation of the efforts made by the members of the Governing Body to find a form of words which would safeguard the important principle of national sovereignty.
Mr. Miller said that the United States Govern- ment wished to reserve its position with reference to paragraph 23 of the report. It would also prefer to postpone discussion on paragraphs 38, 39 and 40 of the report concerning the form of the Committee's recommendations as well as those concerning the hearing of parties. Subject to these reservations the United States Government fully supported the proposals made by Mr. Ramadier.
The Chairman said that the United States Govern- ment could raise these points again when the further discussions to which Mr. Roberts had referred took place at a later session.
The Governing Body approved the procedure pro- posed in paragraphs 23 and 24 of the Ninth Report of the Committee on Freedom of Association with regard to the presentation of complaints.
The Governing Body approved the proposal con- tained in paragraph 28 of the Ninth Report concerning the governments' replies.
The Governing Body rejected the proposals in paragraphs 29 to 32 of the Ninth Report concerning communication of the governments' replies to com- plainants and decided that the Committee should be authorised, without disclosing the replies of govern- ments, to seek further information in writing from the complainant in regard to questions concerning the terms of the complaint requiring further elucidation.
The Governing Body took note that the Workers' group accepted this decision as an interim solution only and that the matter would remain open for further consideration.
The Governing Body decided to defer to a later session consideration of the proposals contained in paragraphs 33 to 37 of the Ninth Report concerning the hearing of parties.
The Governing Body approved the proposals in paragraph 38 of the report concerning the form of the Committee's recommendations.
Eleventh Report
Mr. González Barros, referring to the statement in paragraph 6 (c) of the report that the Committee had asked the Director-General to obtain further information from the governments concerned with
The Colombian Government was particularly concerned to defend trade union rights and had consequently investigated these complaints, with the result that it had ascertained that mo trade union member corresponding to the case cited in the alle- gations by the complainant unions existed under the name reported by them, and the three trade union leaders of the same name who appeared on the registers were in full possession of their trade union rights.
In these circumstances it was difficult to see what further information the Colombian Government could supply to the Committee on Freedom of Association or how any unprejudiced person could suppose that there was any serious basis for the complaints, which had been made for political purposes with the obvious intention of damaging the Government's social policy.
The Chairman asked members of the Governing Body to confine themselves to the matters requiring
a decision and not to deal with those which were included in the Committee's report for information only or the examination of which had not yet been completed.
just had an illustration of the difficulty with which Mr. Roberts said that the Governing Body had
the Committee and the Governing Body were faced in dealing with complaints. The Workers' group as a whole deprecated very strongly the fact that any Government representative involved in a case submitted to the Committee on Freedom of Asso- ciation should be able to state the position of his government in the Governing Body merely because he happened to be present at the session. This raised the issue of the hearing of the complainant, which was a very important point.
The Governing Body approved without further dis cussion the various recommendations contained in the Eleventh Report of the Committee on Freedom of Association.
The Governing Body decided to adjourn to its next session the further examination of Case No. 58 concerning the complaint presented by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions against the Government of Poland.
FIFTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA
The International Labour Organisation and Non-Metropolitan Territories
Mr. Miller wondered whether this item was a matter of urgency and would be prepared to move that it should be postponed to the next session of the Governing Body if this proposal were acceptable
Mr. Roberts said that he could not agree to the adjournment of this item. The question had betr before the Workers' group and the Director General for 18 months or more and the relevant documents