Definitive Report - Report No 74, 1964

Case No 307 (Somalia) - Complaint date: 28-AUG-62 - Closed

1. 58. This case has already come before the Committee at its 33rd Session in February 1963. The Committee then gave the Governing Body an interim report which was approved at the latter's 155th Session on 1 June 1963. In that report the Committee made definitive recommendations on two of the groups of allegations in this case, namely those relating to a strike of postal, telegraph and telephone workers' and those relating to interference with the Somali General Confederation of Labour. As regards the third series of allegations, relating to the transfer of officers of the Union of Somalian Teachers, the Governing Body, at the Committee's recommendation, asked the Government for additional information on some points. The following paragraphs deal only with this third series, which had remained pending.
2. 59. The Somali Republic has ratified neither the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), nor the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98).

60. The complainants allege that, on the occasion of the election on 29 June 1962 of the officers of one of its affiliates, the Union of Somalian Teachers, the Government arbitrarily interfered, contrary to section 9 of the Labour Code, in order to gain control of the governing body of the Union. They contend that the authorities transferred away from the capital " all the lawful legitimate trade union representatives of the teachers who had just been elected, and brought back to the city from the interior persons favourable to the Government who had not been elected, so as to recognise them as officers of the Union". As the lawfully elected representatives refused this transfer, relying on the law, it is alleged, the Government intends to dismiss them. One of the persons transferred is alleged to be the General Secretary of the Somali General Confederation of Labour, who is also the President of the Union of Somalian Teachers.

1. 61. In the observations which it presented on 29 December 1962, the Government declares that the statement that several teachers have been transferred to new posts because of their trade union activities is entirely unfounded. It points out that the. Ministry of Public Education assigns teachers annually to posts according to service requirements and that, under the Civil Service Regulations, they may not refuse such, assignments. According to the Government the transfer of the three teachers, including the General Secretary of the complaining organisation, is a part of the normal annual turnover determined solely by teaching requirements. The persons concerned, despite various warnings, refused to take up their new duties and, on 23 August 1962, the Ministry of Public Education referred their cases to the Disciplinary Board provided for in the Civil Service Regulations. The Board found against the teachers and held them to be subject to "dismissal from service". On 16 October 1962 they were informed that the proposed disciplinary action had been taken. The teachers were entitled to appeal to the Supreme Court against this decision within 60 days.
2. 62. Examining the case at its 33rd Session in February 1963, the Committee pointed out that two points seemed to call for further elucidation. The complainants alleged that all the elected officials, and not just three teachers, of the Teachers' Union had been transferred at the same time. They also alleged that the Government brought back from the interior persons who had not been elected, so as to recognise them as officers of the Union. The Committee then recalled that it had always attached the greatest importance to the principle, embodied in Article 1 of the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98), that workers should enjoy adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination in respect of their employment, including acts calculated to cause the dismissal of or otherwise prejudice a worker by reason of union membership or because of participation in union activities. In these circumstances, before making its recommendations to the Governing Body on this aspect of the case, the Committee decided to request the Government to furnish more detailed observations on the two particular points mentioned above.
3. 63. This decision of the Committee was communicated to the Government by letter of 12 June 1963. The Government replied by a communication dated 16 October 1963, which was made available to the Committee at its 35th Session in November 1963. However, the Committee felt that this reply had reached it too late for due examination to be possible immediately and decided to defer consideration of the matter until the present session.
4. 64. In its reply, the Government confirms what was already stated in its communication of 29 December 1962. It stresses that assignments of posts to teachers are made every year, in accordance with the requirements of the service, the importance of the posts and the qualifications and efficiency of the teachers. Under such a system, the Government argues, no teacher can be guaranteed a particular post for more than a year; and therefore the word "transfer" used by the complainants cannot properly be applied to cases in which there has merely been a reassignment at the end of the school year.
5. 65. The Government goes on to say that, despite the careful inquiries undertaken, it has been unable to ascertain that officials of the Union of Somalian Teachers, except the three teachers mentioned in its first series of observations, were assigned to different posts for the school year 1962-63; it points out that assignments for that year numbered about 1,400. The Government also states that, despite the complainants' assertions, no notification of the results of the elections, although required by law, was ever received.
6. 66. The Government adds that in fact, at the time of the elections, the Union of Somalian Teachers was "in the throes of a serious crisis" revealing the existence of two rival factions; that the changes which occurred in the composition of its governing body were due to the success of one faction over the other and the consequent loss of office by those to whom the complainants allude; and that the Government took no part in the elections in question.
7. 67. According to the complainants, all the elected officials of the Teachers' Union were transferred, whereas the Government, in the two series of observations which it has presented on this point, declares that only three officials were reassigned. The Government's explanations also indicate that these moves were part of the normal system of assignments undertaken at the beginning of each school year; and if, as the Government states, 1,400 assignments are made on each occasion, it would indeed appear that no exceptional action was taken in this matter. It appears, further, that the three persons in question, who refused to take up their new duties, did not appeal against the disciplinary action consequently ordered against them, as they were entitled to do. Secondly, the complainants allege, without giving any details, that the Government arbitrarily interfered in the election of officers of the Union of Somalian Teachers, whereas the Government alleges that the said Union was suffering at that time from grave internal dissensions which led to a change in the composition of its governing body, but that the Government had no hand in these changes and was not even informed of them until a later stage.
8. 68. In these circumstances, having regard to the vague character of the complainants' allegations and the further information given by the Government, the Committee considers that the complainants have not adduced proof of any actual infringement of trade union rights in this regard and recommends the Governing Body to decide that this aspect of the case does not call for further examination.
9. 69. Further, the Committee notes that in the observations presented in its letter of 16 October 1963 the Government makes comments on the Committee's conclusions regarding the allegation that there had been an infringement of trade union rights in connection with a strike of postal workers. These conclusions, which were contained in paragraph 109 of the 69th Report of the Committee, read as follows:
10. ...the Committee...recommends the Governing Body:
11. ......................................................................................................................................................
12. (b) to decide, with regard to the allegations relating to a strike of postal, telegraph and telephone workers:
13. (i) to draw the attention of the Government to the importance which the Governing Body has always attached, where strikes are restricted or prohibited in essential services, to ensuring adequate guarantees to safeguard to the full the interests of the workers thus deprived of an essential means of defending occupational interests, and to the principle that such restriction or prohibition should be accompanied by the provision of adequate impartial and speedy conciliation procedures and of impartial arbitration machinery;
14. (ii) to suggest to the Government that, if it is intended to maintain the present limitation placed upon the exercise of the right to strike by section 139 (2) of the Labour Code, it may care to consider taking steps to ensure that the categories of workers to whom that section applies may in all cases have recourse to the arbitration machinery established by the Code irrespective of whether the other party to a dispute consents to its submission to arbitration or not;
15. (iii) to request the Government to be good enough to keep the Governing Body informed of further developments in this connection;
16. ......................................................................................................................................................
17. The Government, replies to these conclusions as follows: "The recommendations and suggestions made in points (b) (i) and (b) (ii) [of paragraph 109] will be held in mind by the Government during the deliberations on the bringing up to date of the Labour Code which is expected to take place shortly. As regards point (iii), the Government undertakes to keep the Governing Body of the I.L.O informed of every development that may take place in this connection."
18. 70. The Committee recommends the Governing Body to take note with satisfaction of the above statement by the Government, and to express the hope that necessary measures will be taken at an early date.

The Committee's recommendations

1. 71. With regard to the case as a whole, the Committee recommends the Governing Body:
   • (a) to decide that the allegations relating to transfer of officials of the Union of Somalian Teachers do not, for the reasons contained in paragraphs 60 to 68 above, call for further examination;
   • (b) to take note with satisfaction of the statement made by the Government regarding the effect which it intends to give to the recommendations contained in paragraph 109 (b) of the 69th Report of the Committee, and to express the hope that necessary measures to this end will be taken at an early date.