BUJUMBURA January 23rd (ABP) – The National Independent Human Rights Commission (CNIDH) confirmed on Tuesday January 21, 2020 that the withdrawal of fees from teachers’ accounts without their consent constitutes a violation of the right to liberty association recognized by the various national and international texts in social matters. Those texts provide that membership of any association (including trade unions) is a right, not a duty.
That CNIDH statement is a response to a complaint sent to it by some teachers who complained of their forced membership of the Union of Teachers’ Coalition for National Solidarity (COSSESONA).
While adhering to government policy, notes the CNIDH, withholding tax on an employee’s salary is conditional on their prior consent embodied in a written and signed document like what is done concerning union contributions.
The CNIDH also recalls that apart from the sovereign powers reserved for the State and the rare cases strictly provided for by law, the salary of an employee is intangible and sacred. It further recalls that any unilateral decision taken by a legal or natural person to make deductions at source from workers’ wages without their written and signed consent constitutes a violation of property rights.
The CNDH therefore recommended to the Ministry of the Civil Service, Labor and Employment to suspend the operations of source deductions from teachers’ salaries pending the signing of the duly signed individual commitment sheets by teachers interested in joining COSSESONA. It also recommended to the general police station to release the trade unionists detained in its dungeons with a view to favoring and facilitating mediation between the parties to the conflict.
Through the same declaration, the CNIDH recommends that the COSSESONA leaders take all the necessary measures to ensure that membership of the coalition and the national solidarity initiative is free, voluntary and personal and that the report of the use of the fees retained in 2017 and 2019 so that each teacher who wishes to know how the fees withheld were used in order to remove the ambiguity and convince the teachers on the proper use of their money.
The CNIDH also recommends that COSSESONA respect the wishes of teachers who decide to withdraw from their unions.
