Effect given to the recommendations of the committee and the Governing Body - Report No 413, March 2026

Case No 3375 (Panama) - Complaint date: 18-NOV-19 - Closed

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

1. 28. The Committee last examined this case concerning a situation of competing lists of claims and a dispute over representativeness in a pineapple-exporting enterprise at its June 2022 meeting [see 399th Report, paras 230–247]. On that occasion, the Committee requested both the Government and the complainant organization to: (i) indicate whether the Union of Agroindustry and Related Industry Workers of Panama (SITAIP) had had the opportunity to challenge in court the labour administration’s decision concerning the dispute over representativeness and, if so, to provide information on the outcome of those proceedings; and (ii) provide information on the outcome of the investigations carried out by the Office of the Ombudsperson into the allegations of favouritism towards the Ananas Trading Inc. Panama S.A. Workers’ Union (SITRAATI). The Committee also requested the Government to indicate the reasons for which the Ministry of Labour and Employment Development (MITRADEL) had decided to suspend the strike action initiated by SITAIP.
2. 29. The Government submitted its observations in a communication dated 29 December 2023. Regarding the conflict between SITAIP and SITRAATI, the Government reiterates that it was up to SITRAATI to negotiate the list of claims, as it had the largest number of workers affiliated at the time. It also indicates that, after receiving a request for mediation from SITAIP, the Office of the Ombudsperson issued a resolution dated 16 August 2022, in which: (i) it concluded that the claim raised a substantive debate unrelated to the subject matter of mediation, and (ii) it specified that it could only receive requests for mediation or complaints relating to conflicts between the public administration and individuals, and that the background to the claim was a labour dispute between a private enterprise and its workers. With regard to the strike initiated by SITAIP, the Government indicates that MITRADEL decided to suspend this procedure due to legal defects affecting the list of claims that was being processed, ordering the return of that list on 6 November 2019. The Government also reports that the above mentioned enterprise ceased operations more than two years ago.
3. 30. Taking note of the above, the Committee expects that the Government will duly take its previous recommendations into account in the future. In these circumstances and noting that it has not received any further information from the complainant organization since the complaint was lodged, the Committee considers that this case does not call for further examination and is closed.