For national reconciliation and social justice in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Report of the Commission of Inquiry appointed under article 26 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organization to examine the observance by the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela of the Minimum Wage- Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928 (No. 26), the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87), and the Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No.144) Geneva, 2019 Contents Page Summary ................................................................................................................................... vii Acronyms ................................................................................................................................... xi Part I. Introduction, context of the complaint and procedure of the Commission .......... 1 Chapter 1. Submission of the complaint and appointment of the Commission ............................. 1 1.1. Submission of the complaint and relevant legal provisions ......................................... 1 1.2. Summary of the measures adopted by the Governing Body of the ILO following submission of the complaint ....................................................................... 5 1.3. Appointment of the Commission ................................................................................ 7 Chapter 2. The context of the complaint....................................................................................... 9 2.1. Social dialogue in the country: The historical background ......................................... 9 2.1.1. Precedents before 1958 .................................................................................. 9 2.1.2. From the Worker–Employer Covenant to the entry into force of the Constitution in 1999 ............................................................................ 11 2.2. National legal framework ............................................................................................ 14 2.2.1. Legal system .................................................................................................. 14 2.2.2. Enactment of international law ...................................................................... 15 2.2.3. Regulatory framework for freedom of association and civil rights and freedoms......................................................................... 15 2.2.4. Regulatory framework for minimum wage fixing ......................................... 16 2.2.5. Regulatory framework for tripartite consultation on the promotion of the application of international labour standards ....................................... 16 2.3. Relations with the ILO and comments by the supervisory bodies in relation to the Conventions concerned .................................................................... 17 2.3.1. Freedom of Association ................................................................................. 19 2.3.2. Minimum wage fixing ................................................................................... 29 2.3.3. Tripartite consultation on the promotion of the application of international labour standards .................................................................... 31 2.4. Current social and economic context .......................................................................... 33 Chapter 3. Procedure of the Commission of Inquiry .................................................................... 37 3.1. Establishing the Commission ...................................................................................... 37 3.2. Communications received ........................................................................................... 38 3.3. Development of the procedure .................................................................................... 40 Part II. Information on the factual issues investigated by the Commission ....................... 45 Chapter 4. Allegations of state interference in the independence of employers’ and workers’ organizations and the relations between them ....................................... 46 4.1. Favouritism and promotion of organizations close to the Government, as well as obstacles to the operation of other organizations ........................................ 46 iii 4.1.1. Allegations concerning employers’ organizations ......................................... 46 4.1.2. Allegations concerning workers’ organizations ............................................. 52 Interference with respect to the registration and recognition of organizations ...................................................................... 58 Interference in electoral processes ............................................................. 65 4.2. Interference in relations between employers’ and workers’ organizations .................. 74 4.2.1. Workers’ Production Boards (CPT) ............................................................... 75 Chapter 5. Allegations of violence, intimidation, bullying and other breaches of civil liberties against FEDECAMARAS and other social partners ............................. 82 5.1. Physical violence against persons and headquarters .................................................... 83 5.1.1. Allegations concerning employers ................................................................. 83 Attack on FEDECAMARAS headquarters in 2008 ................................... 83 Attack against FEDECAMARAS leaders in 2010 ..................................... 85 Attack on ASOGATA headquarters ........................................................... 87 5.1.2. Allegations concerning trade union members ................................................ 89 Killings ...................................................................................................... 89 Physical assaults during the course of union activities ............................... 94 5.2. Judicial persecution, including consignment to military jurisdiction and extensive application of alternative precautionary measures ................................ 97 5.2.1. Allegations concerning employers’ leaders ................................................... 98 Detention of the President of FEDELIF ..................................................... 98 Detention of the President of the FEDECAMARAS Lara State Electrical Commission .............................................................. 99 Detention of the President and other leaders of AGAPURE ...................... 100 5.2.2. Allegations concerning trade unionists .......................................................... 100 Detention and prosecution and sentencing of the Secretary-General of SINTRAFERROMINERA Orinoco ...................................................... 101 Detention and prosecution of a trade unionist from SINTRAFERROMINERA in June 2011 ................................................... 104 Incarceration, prosecution and sentencing of trade unionists from Ferrominera in November 2018 ........................................................ 105 Detention, prosecution and conviction of the Secretary-General of SUTRAPUVAL and other trade unionists from CVG VENALUM........... 108 Detention and prosecution in military courts of pressidents of professional associations and trade unionists from Carabobo State ........... 109 Detention and placement under long-term precautionary measures of trade unionists from SUTISS and FETRAELEC ................................... 111 5.3. Acts of harassment ...................................................................................................... 113 5.3.1. Media campaign against FEDECAMARAS and affiliated organizations ...... 113 5.3.2. Public protests and acts of vandalism at headquarters ................................... 116 5.3.3. Harassment of employers’ and workers’ leaders in the course of their union activities and in their private lives ........................................... 119 Allegations concerning employers ............................................................. 119 Allegations concerning workers ................................................................. 122 iv 5.3.4. Short-term detentions without a court order at the SEBIN headquarters ....... 125 Allegations concerning employers ............................................................. 122 Allegations concerning workers................................................................. 125 5.3.5. Measures infringing upon the private property of enterprise leaders in reprisal for their activities or membership of FEDECAMARAS ............... 129 Confiscation of the lands and properties of employers’ leaders ................. 130 Other measures detrimental to the private business sector organized around FEDECAMARAS, including the Polar Empresas group ................................................................................ 137 Chapter 6. Alleged exclusion from social dialogue and lack of tripartite consultation, particularly on fixing the minimum wage (Convention No. 26), and the promotion of the application of international labour standards (Convention No. 144) ................................................................................................. 142 6.1. Approval of increases to the minimum wage without tripartite consultation .............. 142 6.2. Lack of tripartite consultation, in particular on matters under Convention No. 144, and alleged