Labor & Employment Law

Take Action Today to End Violence Against Guatemalan Trade Unionists

By Mike Hall

Since the Bush administration pushed the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) through Congress in 2005, Guatemala has become the second most dangerous country for trade unionists in Latin America, trailing only Colombia, according to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

The ITUC reported nine trade unionists were murdered in 2008, in addition to two trade unionists murdered in 2007. In the two years leading up to CAFTA’s approval, no trade unionists were murdered in Guatemala. According to the ITUC’s 2009 Annual Survey:

the situation [in Guatemala] has worsened for trade unionists. Anti-union violence is constant, with assassinations, threats, harassment, shootings at people’s homes, raids and attacks on union offices, and assaults and harassment of trade union leaders and their families.

Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) is urging her colleagues join her in a letter to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom calling on him to end the “continued exploitation” and violence against workers and unions.

The U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project (USLEAP) is asking worker justice activists to contact their House members today and urge them to sign on to the Sanchez letter that is scheduled to be delivered Wednesday to Colom. (Click here to find out from USLEAP how you can take action and help Guatemalan workers.)

Last year, the AFL-CIO and six Guatemalan unions filed a CAFTA complaint with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Trade and Labor Affairs, calling on the Bush administration to demand the Guatemalan government take all measures necessary to end the violence and oppression of trade unionists.

But this past January, just days before Bush left office, the Trade and Labor Affairs office issued a report that confirmed the charges in the complaint, plus additional more serious rights violations. But it took no action. In essence, the Guatemalan government was given a six-month reprieve, if it promised to address the issues.

In June, the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center released a report, “Justice for All: The Struggle for Worker Rights in Guatemala,” that chronicles the long history of repression against workers in Guatemala and the continuing climate of violence, the need for labor law reform, the prevalence of ethnic and gender discrimination and child labor violations.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on July 07, 2009 (boomark / email).