The Constitutional Court (TC) has admitted the amparo appeal filed by the Workers’ Commissions (CC OO) and has concluded that the Cartagena Port Authority violated their fundamental right to freedom of expression, in relation to trade union freedom. As confirmed by LA VERDAD this Wednesday, the Constitutional Court responds to the request to restore the validity of the sentence of the Social Court 3 of Cartagena, according to which the Port violated union rights, because the former port president Joaquín Segado conditioned in December 2018 the use of the house in the Mazarrón Lighthouse by the workers to CC OO retracting a statement. In this, Commissions questioned before different workers the reasons given by the Port to deny the enjoyment of the property until after Christmas, due to lack of “crockery”.
The TC annuls a sentence of the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) of the Region of Murcia in relation to this matter and orders that instance to rule on whether the Port should compensate the union with 6,251 euros for moral damages, as ordered by a Cartagena court. The State Attorney’s Office, the administration to which the Port belongs, challenged the payment of that amount as they did not see evidence of damage to the union’s image. The Supreme Court inadmissible, at the time, the appeal of Commissions.
In 2018, the CC OO communication about housing was answered by Segado, current deputy and spokesperson for the PP in the Regional Assembly. The former president sent a statement to all employees informing them that he had “made the decision to claim the CC OO union », through that «public writing», which «fully» rectified his «false» statements and «that until said retraction has occurred, the use of the house is postponed». «Do you believe it? We do not. It is probably that on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve the lighthouse will be full of seagulls,” Comisiones wrote in their message about the absence of utensils and with a possible interpretation that the seagulls were people linked to the Popular Party.
The TSJ must rule on whether the union is entitled to compensation of 6,521 euros for damage to its image, something that the State Attorney rejects
«In response to the question formulated by CC OO [en una reunión entre la Presidencia, la Dirección y el Comité de Empresa]the Management said that it would be from January 7, 2019 [cuando estaría disponible la casa], because the household items are still missing, including crockery, cutlery, bedding and bathroom linen, “Segado replied in his e-mail. And he charged against “absolutely tendentious and malicious” statements, which allude to “spurious motives” of the company.
No crockery at Christmas
Now, the TC partially agrees with the union representatives and revokes the ruling of the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) of the Region of Murcia, which dealt with an appeal from the Port Authority and rendered the original resolution of this procedure ineffective. In that first sentence, handed down on June 28, 2019, the Social Court 3 of Cartagena upheld the demand of Comisiones Obreras and declared the “radical nullity of the company’s action regarding the statement made conditioning the use of the home del Faro de Mazarrón to the retraction of the plaintiff”.
In addition, the local court ordered the Port Authority to “disseminate fully, and immediately” the sentence to all workers, through corporate mail. And he urged him that, “in the future, do not condition the rights acquired by workers to the communications made by the union section of Comisiones Obreras.”
This same resolution, which acquitted the Works Council and the UGT union, jointly sued by Commissions for allegedly benefiting from different treatment by Segado, the judge reproached the state company for its behavior. And he recalled that although “the communiqués of the union sections may or may not be to the liking of the employer”, and “the logical thing” is that this happens “in the periods of greatest demand”, they are protected by the Law through the rights fundamental to freedom of expression and freedom of association.
There is no room for “the will of the president”
Consequently, “if the company understands that there has been an excess in the demonstrations of a union section”, it has “an endless number of ways to remedy or compensate it”, through disciplinary, civil or criminal channels. “But in no way can it limit or condition the rights obtained by all the company’s workers, such as the consolidated right to enjoy a house for parties, or that a certain union section retracts its manifestations.” These working conditions “cannot depend on the discretion or will of the president of the Port Authority, nor depend on the existence of union sections that are more or less ‘disobedient’ or ‘affiliated’ with the actions of the Business Administration”, stated the judge. And he warned that conditioning the rights to the convenience of the company “seriously violates the right” of the union to “express freely” in its “demands” and “it leads to the perception of workers that their rights may be negatively affected for union action.
Moreover, the court came to the conclusion that “the actions of the Port Authority go deeper into the claimed violation” and a serious violation of the “principle of impartiality” due to an event subsequent to the suspension of the use of the home. He explains that, in a subsequent meeting with the UGT, in February 2019, “it takes the opportunity to take advantage”, wrest from the company the commitment to lift the suspension of use for all employees and “show that, thanks to its good relations with the Business Management, the rights that before, due to the ‘fault’ of the other union section, had been lost are recovered”.
“Such impartiality and non-interference should be much more exquisite in a public body, supported with public funds, so that there is no hint of favoring one union option or another, much less in a context of imminent elections to represent the workers,” the judge noted.
The union charges against the PP spokesman in the Assembly
In a statement, Commissions made reference to the sentence on Wednesday and stressed that “Joaquín Segado Martínez, spokesman for the Popular Party in the Regional Assembly, violated the fundamental rights of CC OO when he was president of the Cartagena Port Authority.” The union referred to the sentence and indicated that “the action taken by the president of the APC was dissuasive and impeded the promotional effectiveness of the right to freedom of expression (article 20.1 a) of the Spanish Constitution) and the right to freedom of association (article 28)”.
In addition, the union expressed its “satisfaction with the result of this sentence” and appreciated “the great work carried out by the lawyer Luis Martínez Vela”, representative of CC OO. And union delegate Diego Zaplana affirmed that Segado acted as stated in the sentence to “blackmail” his group of workers.
Mowing asks for “apologies” and the PSOE demands his resignation
In statements to Onda Regional de Murcia, Segado apologized for his conduct. “I apologize. In no case was it my intention. I, at that time, issued a statement that obeyed what, at that time, I believed I had to do. If it was not correct, I’m sorry,” he said.
PSOE deputy Carmina Fernández urged him to resign from office and linked what happened to the judicial investigation into alleged corruption in the Port in the stages before and after Segado’s presidency. “Joaquín Segado, who dares to give so many lessons every day, if he had any decency, what he would do would be to resign immediately due to this ruling on his management as president of the Port Authority. He was the most responsible, “argued Fernández. In her opinion, “This is the usual way of acting of the PP, it is the same behavior of Yolanda Muñoz [actual presidenta], who is personally accused of managing the Port Authority as if it were a farmhouse and as if everyone were at his command. They believe they own the institution and that no one can contradict them,” added the parliamentarian.
For the Socialists, the Constitutional ruling “is one more example that the Popular Party of López Miras has used the institutions as if they were its farmhouse, and has thought all this time that it could do whatever it wanted, even violate fundamental rights, as the Constitution has now made clear”.
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