The situation is scarcely better in Guatemala, a country where death threats and anti-union violence have long been widespread. The walls of an education union's office were daubed with red crosses as symbols of death. The leaders of a bank employees' union received announcements of their own deaths and armed men blatantly attacked the head office of a peasant farmers union.
Death threats are not the only form of anti-union pressure in Latin America. The workers at banana plantations received some of the worst treatment in Ecuador in 2005. 44 workers at the San José plantation were sacked simply for setting up a trade union. A protest strike was called by the workforce but the police used tear gas to quell that legitimate action.
In the EPZs, where working conditions are particularly insecure, workers' attempts to get organised have in many cases ended in failure, due to the threats of dismissal they are subjected to and employers who are quick to carry them out.
In Peru, the tactics employed by the telecommunications company ITETE were not limited to sacking workers. After forming a union, 23 employees of the company were sacked, whilst other union members received threats of dismissal and were transferred to lower-paid jobs.
No collective agreement has been signed in the company. Ajeper and Gloria S.A., both multinationals specialised in non-alcoholic drinks, used similar procedures for sacking and threatening their staff. Gloria S.A. was the recipient of a major loan from the World Bank's International Finance Corporation in 2003.
In the northern section of the continent, trade union organisations have also been victims of ploys aimed at weakening them. The government of the United States, which is clearly anti-union, has taken measures, via its National Labour Relations Board, aimed at decreasing the influence of trade unions. Many aggressive anti-union campaigns are organised to try and dupe workers into distrusting their unions.
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
marketing@alchempro.com
