Título Sexto. Sindicatos

A trade union is any permanent association of workers or employers or persons of independent profession or trade (independent workers), constituted exclusively for the study, improvement and protection of their respective common economic and social interests.

Rural trade unions are those constituted by rural workers or employers of agricultural or livestock enterprises or persons of independent profession or trade, whose activities and tasks are carried out in the agricultural or livestock field.

Urban trade unions are those not included in the definition of the preceding paragraph.

The provisions of this chapter are applicable to every class of trade unions, whether urban or rural.

Trade unions shall always be governed by the democratic principles of respect for the will of the majorities, of secret vote and of one vote per person.

However, when secret vote is not practicable by reason of illiteracy or other highly qualified circumstance, decisions may be taken by nominal vote and, in the exceptional cases involving matters of mere procedure, it is lawful to adopt any other rapid and efficient voting systems that are compatible with democratic principles.

In the event that any member of the trade union holds any remunerated political office, total suspension of the employment relationship shall apply for as long as such circumstance lasts.

Trade unions are prohibited from granting special privileges to their founders, executive officers or consultants, whether by reason of age, sex, seniority or any other circumstance, except for advantages that are inherent to the proper performance of trade union positions.

Workers shall not be dismissed for participating in the formation of a trade union. They shall enjoy protection against dismissal from the moment they give notice by any written means to the General Labor Inspectorate, directly or through the delegation thereof in its jurisdiction, that they are forming a trade union, and they shall enjoy such protection until sixty days after the registration thereof.

If the provisions of this article are not complied with, the affected worker or workers shall be reinstated within twenty-four hours, and the liable employer shall be sanctioned with a fine equivalent to ten to fifty current monthly minimum wages for non-agricultural activities, and shall in addition pay the wages and economic benefits that they have failed to receive. If the employer persists in such conduct for more than seven days, the fine incurred shall be increased by fifty percent.

If any worker incurs any cause for dismissal provided for in Article 77 of this Code, the employer shall initiate a proceeding for cancellation of employment contract for the sole purpose of authorizing the dismissal.

Legally constituted trade unions are legal persons capable of exercising rights and incurring obligations and are exempt from paying all kinds of fiscal and municipal taxes that may encumber their immovable property, rents or income of any kind.

Trade unions may use the advantages of their legal personality in everything that contributes to fulfilling the purposes of Article 206, but they are prohibited from doing so for profit.

Legally constituted trade unions may acquire all kinds of property, movable and immovable, that serve to fulfill their purposes of improving the economic and social condition of their members.

The ordinary and extraordinary dues that the affiliated worker must pay to the organization pursuant to subsection i) of Article 61 of this Code shall be considered deductible expenses from the Income Tax. Likewise, workers or individual or legal persons may deduct from the Income Tax all donations, in cash or in kind, that they make to trade unions, federations or confederations of workers legally constituted in the country.

The Executive Branch, through the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and under the responsibility of the head thereof, shall formulate and implement a national policy for the defense and development of trade unionism, in accordance with the following bases:

a)It shall guarantee the exercise of the right to freedom of association;

b)It shall take appropriate measures to protect the free exercise of the right to unionization, in accordance with the Political Constitution of the Republic, the international labor treaties and conventions ratified by Guatemala, this Code, its regulations and other labor and social welfare laws;

c)It shall maintain a free legal advisory service for workers who wish to organize as a union and shall disseminate labor and social welfare laws periodically;

d)It shall promote consultation and cooperation with representative organizations of employers and workers enjoying the right to freedom of association.

Any worker who is fourteen years of age or older may join a trade union, but minors may not be members of its executive committee and advisory council.

No person may belong to two or more trade unions simultaneously.

It is unlawful for representatives of the employer and other analogous workers who, by reason of their high hierarchical position within the enterprise, are obligated to preferentially defend the interests of the employer, to belong to a workers' trade union. The determination of all such cases of exception must be made in the respective bylaws, taking into account only the nature of the positions that are excluded and not the persons. Such exceptions shall not be approved without the approval of the General Labor Inspectorate.

The penalties imposable on the trade unions are:

a)A fine, when pursuant to this Code they become subject to it; and,

b)Dissolution, in the cases expressly indicated in this chapter. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the members of the Executive Committee are personally liable for all legal violations or abuses that they commit in the performance of their offices. Those of its members who have reasoned their vote against the decision taken are exempted from liability for decisions taken by the General Assembly or the Executive Committee.

The activities of the trade unions are:

a)To enter into collective contracts of work, collective pacts of conditions of work and other agreements of general application for the workers of the enterprise. The entering into of said activities corresponds exclusively to the trade unions; except as stated in articles 374, 375 and 376 of this Code;

b)To participate in the integration of the State bodies as permitted to them by law;

c)To safeguard at all times the economic-social well-being of the worker and his personal dignity;

d)To create, administer or subsidize institutions, establishments, social works and commercial activities which without profit motive contribute to improving the standard of living of the workers and are of common utility for their members, such as cooperatives, sports, educational, cultural, assistance and social welfare entities. Stores of consumer goods and supply of inputs and instruments of work. Which for their operation shall be duly regulated and shall act with the juridical personality of the trade union entity; and

e)In general, all those activities which are not inconsistent with their essential purposes nor with the laws.

Trade unions are classified by their nature as urban and rural and as:

a)Craft, when they are formed by workers of the same profession or trade or, if they are employers, of the same economic activity;

b)Enterprise, when they are formed by workers of various professions or trades who provide their services:

1)In the same enterprise.

2)In two or more identical enterprises.

c)Industry, when they are formed by workers of various professions or trades who provide their services in enterprises of the same industry and represent half plus one of the workers and/or employers in that activity.

To form a trade union of workers, the written consent of twenty or more workers is required, and to form one of employers, a minimum of five employers is required.

Trade unions are empowered to initiate their activities from the moment of their registration in the Public Registry of Trade Unions. Nevertheless, before the respective registration, trade unions may:

a)Hold sessions to elect the provisional executive committee and advisory council; hold sessions of these bodies and of the general assembly, or hold sessions to discuss and approve their statutes;

b)Carry out procedures aimed at obtaining the registration of the legal personality and of the statutes of the trade union.

In order to obtain recognition of its legal personality, approval of its statutes and registration of the trade unions, the following procedure shall be observed:

a)To file a written application on plain paper directly with the General Directorate of Labor or through the nearest labor authority, within the time limit of (20) days counted from the constitutive assembly of the trade union, in which a place to receive notifications shall be indicated;

b)To the application there shall be attached the original and one copy of the constitutive record and of the statutes, signed on each of their pages by the secretary general and at the end they shall be signed by all the members of the Provisional Executive Committee;

c)The General Directorate of Labor shall examine whether the aforementioned documents comply with the legal provisions. If so, it shall issue a favorable decision which shall contain recognition of the legal personality of the trade union, approval of its statutes and order for its registration in the Public Register of Trade Unions. The processing referred to in this article may not exceed twenty working days counted from receipt of the file, under penalty of dismissal of the person responsible for the delay. Within the fifteen days following the respective registration, the decision ordering its registration shall be published free of charge.

The General Directorate of Labor may not refuse to decide favorably on the application if it has been formulated in accordance with the legal provisions. Only verification of irremediable errors or defects may determine an unfavorable decision by the head of the General Directorate of Labor, whose text shall be communicated without loss of time to the interested parties, so that they may oppose it by filing an application for revocation or proceed to formulate a new application;

d)The General Directorate of Labor shall examine whether the aforementioned documents comply with the legal provisions. If so, with the prior approval of the Higher Office, it shall proceed to effect the registration of the trade union in the book of legal persons of the public register of trade unions, with express declaration that in the drafting of the statutes the respective legality was observed. The processing referred to in this article may not exceed ten working days counted from receipt of the file, under penalty of dismissal of the person responsible for the delay. Within the fifteen days following the respective registration, a summary of the decision that approved the statutes and recognizes the legal personality of the trade union shall be published in the official gazette free of charge.

Only verification of irremediable errors or defects may determine an unfavorable decision by the head of the General Directorate of Labor, whose text shall be communicated without loss of time to the interested parties so that they may oppose it by filing an application for revocation or proceed to formulate a new application.

If they are remediable errors or defects, they shall be communicated to the interested parties so that they may proceed to correct them or, as the case may be, to file an application for revocation.

must keep a public register of trade unions in which they must be registered, for which purpose the respective registration must contain, at least, the following data:

a)Number, place and date of the registration;

b)Copy of the data referred to in subparagraphs a) and b) of Article 220;

c)Copy of the bylaws of the trade union or, as the case may be, of amendments thereto; and

d)Transcription of the agreement that granted the statutory authorization and juridical personality and that ordered said registration, or that, as the case may be, approved the amendments to the bylaws.

Once the trade union is registered, the *Administrative Department of Labor must send to its representatives a transcription of the corresponding agreement and return to them a copy of each of the documents submitted, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Article 218 duly sealed and signed on its pages by the respective head, all within the third day. The corresponding originals must be filed.

In the same public register of trade unions there must be recorded without delay and as the respective facts occur, all important data arising subsequently from the functioning of each trade union, such as the result of its periodic rendering of accounts, changes in the composition of its executive committee or consultative council, annual roll of its members, federation or confederation to which it belongs, warnings addressed to it by the labor authorities and sanctions imposed upon it.

Cases of merger and dissolution give rise to the cancellation of the corresponding registration.

The constitutive record of a trade union must contain:

a)First and last names, profession or trade or economic activity and number of the vecindad identity cards of its founding members, as well as a clear and precise statement that they wish to form the trade union;

b)Nationality and place of residence of the members of the executive committee and of the consultative council;

c)Authorization to the members of the executive committee to accept, in their judgment and on behalf of the trade union, any reforms indicated by the *Administrative Department of Labor or, as applicable, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and, in general, to carry out the procedures referred to in Article 218; and

d)Clear and precise declaration by the members of the Provisional Executive Committee indicating that they are Guatemalans by origin and workers of the enterprise or enterprises, when it is a trade union thereof; of the corresponding profession, trade or economic activity, in the case of craft or independent trade unions. Likewise they may provide any other information that the interested parties deem advisable.

The bylaws of a trade union must contain:

a)The name and nature that clearly distinguish them from others;

b)The purpose;

c)The domicile or residence and its exact address,

d)The rights and obligations of its members. The former are not lost by the worker by the mere fact of his forced unemployment for a period of not more than one year;

e)The time and procedure for appointing the executive committee and the advisory council;

f)The conditions for admission of new members;

g)The enumeration of disciplinary corrections and the causes and procedures for imposing the latter as well as for agreeing the expulsion of any of its members;

h)The amount of ordinary dues and the maximum limit, as to the number of times they may be required each year and as to the sum that may be requested, of extraordinary dues; the form of payment of both; the rules to which expenditures must be subject and the exact determination of the percentages to which the respective income is to be allocated in accordance with the functions proper to each trade union.

Administrative expenses must be set at a reasonable percentage and registration, authorization and granting of legal personality to a trade union that does not determine said percentage or that does so in an excessively broad manner must be denied;

i)The time and procedures for holding general assemblies, whether ordinary or extraordinary, as well as the written publicity requirements to which each call must be subjected.

Ordinary or extraordinary general assemblies may be validly held with the attendance of one-half plus one of the total registered members, but if for any reason there is no quorum, those present may agree to call a new meeting within the following ten days, which must be legally held with the number of members attending it. Representation of some members by others in general assemblies is unlawful, except for those representations performed by delegates of trade unions which by their nature have departmental sections or municipal subsections;

j)The time and form of presentation and justification of accounts, whose review shall be in charge of a specific commission composed of three members elected in General Assembly or by whomever it designates;

k)The procedures for carrying out the liquidation of the trade union, in case of voluntary dissolution or otherwise; and

l)All other rules deemed appropriate for the good organization, direction and administration of the trade union.

The exclusive powers of the general assembly are:

a)To elect the members of the Executive Committee and of the Consultative Council for periods of no more than two years;

b)To remove, in whole or in part, the members of the executive committee and of the consultative council, when circumstances so warrant and in accordance with the bylaws;

c)To approve the initial drafting and subsequent amendments of the bylaws;

d)To finally approve collective work contracts and collective pacts on conditions of work and other agreements of general application for the members of the trade union. The executive committee may enter into such contracts, pacts or agreements ad referendum and may also finally approve them, provided that the general assembly has authorized it expressly and restrictively for each case;

e)To set extraordinary dues;

f)To decide whether or not to strike, once it has been declared legal or just, as applicable, by the competent tribunal;

g)To agree to merge with another trade union or other trade unions and to finally decide whether the trade union should join a federation or withdraw from it;

h)To approve or disapprove the draft annual budget proposals that the executive committee must submit to it each year and to introduce therein such amendments as it deems appropriate;

i)To approve or disapprove the rendering of accounts that the executive committee must submit to it and to order the measures necessary to correct any errors or deficiencies found;

j)To authorize all kinds of investments exceeding one hundred quetzales;

k)To agree, by two-thirds of all the members of the trade union, on the expulsion of those members who merit such a measure.

l)Any others expressly conferred upon it by the bylaws or by this Code or its regulations, or that are inherent to its character as the supreme directive authority of the trade union; and

m)Resolutions relating to the matters covered in this article must be adopted with the favorable vote of half plus one of the affiliated members who constitute the quorum of the respective Assembly, except with respect to subparagraphs b) and c) of this article, for which the favorable vote of two-thirds of said Assembly is required.

The functioning and composition of the executive committee are governed by these rules:

a)It is in charge of executing and carrying out the mandates of the general assembly recorded in the book of records and agreement and whatever is required by the bylaws or legal provisions. Its functions are, consequently, purely executive and do not entitle its members to arrogate to themselves powers that have not been conferred upon them;

b)Its members must be Guatemalans by origin and workers of the enterprise or enterprises, in the case of the trade union thereof; of the corresponding profession, trade or economic activity, in the case of craft or independent trade unions. The failure to meet any of the requirements implies immediate cessation in office;

c)The number of its members may not exceed nine nor be fewer than three;

d)The members of the Executive Committee enjoy protection against dismissal in the work they perform during the entire time their terms of office last and until twelve months after having ceased in the performance thereof. Such members may not be dismissed during said period, unless they incur just cause for dismissal, duly demonstrated by the employer in an ordinary trial before a competent labor tribunal.

The benefit established in this paragraph likewise applies to all members of the Provisional Executive Committee of a trade union in the process of organization. To be entitled thereto they must give notice of their election to the General Labor Inspectorate, enjoying such privilege as of that moment.

e)The body of its members as a whole holds the legal representation of the trade union and the same is approved with certification issued by the *Administrative Department of Labor. However, the executive committee may agree by a two-thirds majority of all its members to delegate such representation to one or more of them for all matters or for specific matters, but in any case, with limited duration.

Said delegation is revocable at any time and its revocation is evidenced by means of certification of the respective agreement, signed by the absolute majority of the members of the executive committee and by the head of the *Administrative Department of Labor, or in the absence thereof by a labor inspector.

Neither the executive committees, nor their component members as such may delegate the representation of the trade union, in whole or in part, nor their powers, to third persons by means of mandates or in any form.

f)The civil obligations contracted by the executive committee on behalf of the trade union bind the latter, provided that the former have acted within their legal powers;

g)It is liable to the trade union and to third persons on the same terms as those on which agents under a mandate are liable under the common law. This liability is joint and several among all the members of the executive committee, unless it is reliably recorded in the book of records that any of them, in the case in question, cast a dissenting vote;

h)It may represent judicially and extrajudicially each of the members of the trade union in the defense of their individual economic and social interests whenever said members expressly so request; and

i)It is obligated to render to the general assembly, at least every six months, a complete and substantiated account of the administration of the funds and to remit a copy of the respective report, signed by all the members, to the *Administrative Department of Labor, as well as of the documents or vouchers accompanying it. It must likewise transcribe to the same department the decision issued by the general assembly on the rendering of accounts, all within the three days following the date thereof.

The advisory council has purely advisory functions and its members must meet the requirements indicated in subsection b) of the preceding article.

The obligations of trade unions are:

a)To keep the following books, duly sealed and authorized by the *Administrative Department of Labor: records and agreements of the general assembly, records and agreements of the executive committee, members' registers and income and expenditure accounting;

b)To issue a receipt for every dues payment or any other income. The respective stub books must be sealed and authorized by the *Administrative Department of Labor;

c)To provide the reports requested by the labor authorities, provided they refer exclusively to their actions as trade unions and not to those of their members personally;

d)To communicate to the *Administrative Department of Labor, within the ten days following the respective election, the changes occurring in its executive committee or advisory council;

e)To send annually to the same department a register of all its members, which must include their given names and surnames, the number of their neighborhood identity cards and their corresponding professions or trades or, in the case of employers' trade unions, the nature of the economic activities they perform as such;

f)To request from the said department, within the fifteen days following the holding of the general assembly that agreed to amend the bylaws, that such amendments thereto as are appropriate be approved; and

g)To publish each year in the Diario Oficial an accounting and financial statement of its situation, which shall include with due specification the assets and liabilities of the trade union.

At the request of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, the Labor and Social Welfare Tribunals shall declare dissolved the trade unions against which it is proved at trial:

a)That place themselves at the service of foreign interests contrary to those of Guatemala, that initiate or foment religious or racial struggles, that maintain activities antagonistic to the democratic regime established by the Constitution, that obey directives of an international character contrary to said regime or that in any other form violate the provision of Article 206 which orders them to limit their activities to the promotion and protection of their economic and social interests common to their members.

b)That engage in commerce or industry for profit or that utilize directly or through another person the benefits of their juridical personality and the tax exemptions that this Code grants them, to establish or maintain retail outlets for alcoholic beverages, prohibited gambling halls or other activities incompatible with trade union purposes; or

c)That use manifest violence against other persons to compel them to join them or to prevent them from performing their lawful work; or that foment criminal acts against persons or property; or that maliciously provide false information to the labor authorities.

In the cases provided for in this last subparagraph, the action that any injured party may bring to have the corresponding criminal sanctions applied to those found guilty is reserved.

The Executive Branch, through the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, must request before the Labor Tribunals the dissolution of the trade unions, in the following cases:

a)When they have a number of members below the legal minimum;

b)When they fail to comply with any of the obligations set forth in Article 225; and

c)When they fail to conform to the provisions of subparagraphs c) or i) of Article 223.

In all of these cases it is necessary that the General Labor Inspectorate first issue to them a written warning and grant them, to remedy the omission specifically indicated to them, a non-extendable term of fifteen days.

Trade unions may agree to their dissolution when two-thirds of all their members so resolve.

In this case, the dissolution must be communicated by the executive committee to the *Administrative Department of Labor, together with a copy of the record in which the dissolution was agreed, duly signed by all its members. As soon as that department receives said documents, it must order the publication of a summary of the record three consecutive times in the Official Gazette and if after fifteen days counted from the appearance of the last notice no opposition or claim arises, it must proceed without further proceedings to effect the respective cancellation.

In every case of dissolution it is incumbent upon the *Administrative Department of Labor to appoint a liquidation board, composed of a labor inspector and two honorable persons, chosen from among workers or employers, as the case may be.

Said liquidation board shall act as mandatary of the dissolved trade union and, in order to fulfill its task, must follow the procedure indicated by the bylaws, which may authorize the *Administrative Department of Labor to indicate in such cases the procedure it deems advisable or to order that the procedure established by the common laws be applied, insofar as possible.

Acts or contracts concluded or executed by the trade union after it has been dissolved are void ipso jure, except those that refer exclusively to its liquidation.

It is understood that even after a trade union has been dissolved, it is deemed to exist insofar as it affects solely its liquidation.

The assets and liabilities of dissolved trade unions shall be applied in the manner determined by the bylaws and, in the absence of an express provision, shall pass to the Federation to which it belongs.

If the trade union is not federated, the General Assembly may order delivery of its liquid capital to another trade union organization which it deems appropriate, or it shall pass to the State to be applied for literacy purposes.

Two or more trade unions of the same nature may merge to form a single one, in which case proceedings must be conducted in accordance with Articles 216, second paragraph, 217 and 218.

If the merger is declared admissible, the respective decision must order the cancellation of the registrations of the merged trade unions and of their corresponding juridical personalities. Until such cancellation occurs, the trade unions in question shall retain said personalities and may render the merger agreement without effect.

Four or more trade unions of workers or of employers may form a federation and four or more federations of the former or of the latter may form a Confederation.

Federations and confederations may be of a national, regional character or by branches of production and are governed by the provisions of this title in all matters applicable to them.

The constitutive record of federations and confederations must state, in addition to what is indicated in subparagraphs b), c) and d) of Article 220, the names and domiciles or places of residence of all the founding trade unions comprising them, as well as the registration number thereof and their statutes, apart from what Article 221 requires, must determine the manner in which the trade unions composing them are to be represented in their general assemblies.

At any time, five or more unionized workers may demand that a review of the accounting of their respective trade union be conducted.