Americas

Many types of trade union rights violations have again occurred on the American continent, comprising physical violence, abusive laws or failure to enforce the law.

Colombia continues sadly to hold the infamous world record, accounting for 60% of the assassinations of trade unionists around the world. Despite the government’s security drive, 2008 saw a disturbing 25% increase in cases of anti-union violence, with 49 trade unionists assassinated, 16 of whom were union leaders and four of whom were women. Nor has there been any decrease in assassination attempts, disappearances and death threats, or in impunity, since sentences have been minimal. Labour law and policy still exclude more than two thirds of workers from social and worker protection measures, by denying basic workers’ rights to over 12 million people. The laws and practices of the Colombian State are contrary to the principles of decent work, as evidenced by the workers’ cooperatives (Cooperativas de Trabajo Asociado, CTA), which have brought in a new employment model based on insecure, low-cost jobs and no trade union rights.

In the countries of Central America, too, the situation has worsened for trade unionists. In Guatemala, 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. In most cases, these actions have not been punished. In the course of the year, more than 20 leaders of unions, indigenous groups and peasant farmers were murdered and the union movement was subjected to a level of persecution reminiscent of the practices used during armed conflict. In Honduras, Rosa Altagracia Fuentes, the General Secretary of the Honduran confederation CTH, was brutally murdered with 16 bullets. Reports say the police hold a list of recognised leaders, including indigenous leaders, journalists and even representatives of the international community, who are being kept under surveillance by the national intelligence services. In Panama, another leader from the national building workers’ union SUNTRACS was murdered, against a background of extensive and serious violations of workers’ rights.

A whole panoply of employment practices is undermining trade union organising and collective bargaining: subcontracting of workers via intermediary agencies or the dismissal of leaders and/or founder members of unions, are used for getting rid of unions. Frequently, employers offer economic incentives to encourage workers to leave unions and thereby weaken them. In some countries, including Nicaragua, short-term contracts are being imposed, making it impossible to increase the numbers of union members. Changes are also taking place that may appear to be merely formal, but in fact have an impact on organising, such as changing the official name of a company in order to de-recognise the union, or replacing some managers with anti-union “hardliners”. In the export processing zones (EPZs), workers’ rights are non-existent. In many cases, the sanctions imposed are not sufficiently dissuasive to stop employers undermining workers’ rights. In El Salvador, ILO Convention 87, though ratified in 2006, is still not being applied in practice. In Costa Rica, the effective exercise of union rights is severely undermined and in the private sector unions are virtually non-existent, due to a potent combination of anti-union strategies, state indifference and the promotion of solidarity-style associations (“solidarismo”).

Another way in which union rights are violated is through legislation. In the USA, employers routinely flout legislation, dismissing tens of thousands of workers every year on account of their union activities. Neither the legislation itself nor its enforcement are capable of protecting workers’ union rights. Union-busting is a multi-million dollar business. In various provinces of Canada, legislation does not provide certain groups of workers with the legal protection they need to organise themselves or contains restrictions on the right to strike. In Mexico “protection contracts", which are fake collective agreements drawn up by employers, negotiated behind workers’ backs and filed with the Federal Conciliation and Arbitration Board, breach union rights by preventing any genuine union organising or collective bargaining and the possibility of using the right to strike. In Peru, the trend of subcontracting many government services has continued, which is leading to job losses in state enterprises and the public administration and making it harder to unionise workers. In Venezuela, the political conflict between the government and union organisations in the opposition are making it hard to exercise the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike.

In the countries of the Caribbean, the law generally recognises union rights, however their enforcement remains comparatively restricted, particularly as regards the right to strike. Employers are continuing to deploy anti-union tactics. In Barbados, employers often refuse to negotiate collective agreements, despite recognising trade unions. In Jamaica, the unions reported many cases of anti-union measures this year aimed at destroying them.