guatemalan union busting

CAMPAIGN FOR INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE
>
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>Del Monte.
>
>DEL MONTE BANANA UNION LEADERS FORCED AT GUNPOINT TO RESIGN
>AND FLEE FOR THEIR LIVES IN GUATEMALA; U.N. TO HOLD PRESS
>CONFERENCE
>
>posted October 21, 1999
>
>[Information provided by the U.S./Labor Education in the
>Americas Project: (773) 262-6502, <usglep@igc.org>]
>
>See ACTION REQUEST at end of alert.
>
>SUMMARY
>
>Banana union leaders in Guatemala leading a fight against
>Del Monte's firing of nearly 1,000 workers were surrounded
>at their union headquarters by 200 heavily armed men on
>October 13, threatened with death and forced to resign and
>abandon their homes. Details of the harrowing experience
>were not made public until this week, when the leaders were
>able to secure safe houses in Guatemala City along with
>their families.
>
>The U.N. agency MINUGUA describes the incident as the most
>serious violation of human rights in Guatemala since the
>killing of Archbishop Juan Jose Gerardi. MINUGUA will hold
>a press conference in Guatemala City on October 22 to
>report the findings of its investigation and its concerns
>regarding paramilitary forces operating in violation of the
>Peace Accords.
>
>The banana union leaders remain in fear for their lives and
>have asked for urgent international action to ensure their
>safety and those of 3,000 banana workers who remain on or
>near the plantations. They have also called on Del Monte
>Fresh Produce to ensure their safety, immediately reject
>the
>forced resignations, respect the union contract and
>reinstate the fired workers.
>
>Guatemalan Labor Minister Luis Linares released a statement
>an October 19 statement also calling on the company to
>reject the forced resignations and declaring that the
>firings were illegal. He has subsequently been attacked
>in the Guatemalan press by business leaders.
>
>BACKGROUND
>
>On September 27, Bandegua, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Del
>Monte Fresh Produce, notified nearly 900 workers from the
>district of Bobos in Morales, Guatemala that they were
>being dismissed and that three plantations would be rented
>out to independent producers. Bandegua gave as its
>reasoning the
>depressed prices of bananas on the world market. The union
>representing Bandegua workers, SITRABI, rejected the sudden
>layoffs as a violation of its collective bargaining
>agreement, but the company refused to negotiate.
>Mediation by the Guatemalan Labor Minister, Luis Linares,
>was met with complete intransigence by the company,
>although the union even offered to renegotiate its
>contract.
>
>The union, which represents not only the nearly 1,000
>workers in the Bobos district but also 3,000 Bandegua
>workers in nearby Motagua district, then held a general
>assembly at which it was decided that on the morning of
>October 14 all Motagua workers would simultaneously
>exercise a provision of their contract allowing any union
>member to request 10 days of unpaid absence.
>
>Instead, on the evening of October 13, two hundred heavily
>armed men with high caliber weapons and assault weapons
>came to the union hall, grabbed two members of the
>executive committee who were present and forced them at
>gunpoint to drive to the home of the general secretary, who
>was dragged out of his house and beaten before being taken
>back to the union hall. Again at gunpoint, one of the union
>leaders was forced to call two other members of the
>executive committee to "request" their presence at the
>union hall. They
>complied, only to find the union hall surrounded by the
>armed men. The five executive committee members of the
>union who were now captive were General Secretary Marel
>Martinez, Secretaries of Conflicts Enrique Villeda and
>Fernando Salguero, Secretary of Organization Jorge Palma,
>and President of the Advisory Board Lionel McIntosh, also a
>candidate for mayor of Morales with the left-of-center
>alliance Alianza Nueva Nacion. Another 25 or so
>workplace union representatives also were present.
>
>According to a report from those who have interviewed the
>union leaders:
>
>The first to speak was the president of the [local] Chamber
>of Commerce who stated that Bandegua had informed them that
>it would leave Guatemala if the demonstration were to take
>place on Oct. 14. He informed the union members that this
>could not happen, that the town of Morales would become a
>ghost town and for that reason they had to resign from the
>union.
>
>Then the "commander" of the armed individuals spoke and
>stated that there was only one way to correct the problem
>and it was to kill all of the union leaders. He ordered
>that the leaders be photographed so that they could be
>identified at any time in future. He stated that the union
>leaders would have to give a message on the community
>radios instructing the workers that they should not attend
>the demonstration the next day and telling the fired
>workers from Bobos to collect their severance pay and get
>out of the
>plantations. The workers from Motagua were to present
>themselves to their supervisors for work the next day as
>normal.
>
>Enrique Villeda and Marel Martinez were taken to local
>radio stations where at gunpoint they were forced to air
>messages to the workers in Bobos and Motagua that the union
>had reached an agreement with Bandegua, that there was no
>reason to attend the demonstration the next day and that
>Motagua
>workers should go to work.
>
>After the radio transmissions, they were returned to the
>union hall where a lawyer was now being held by force. The
>armed men instructed him to draft the union leaders'
>resignations telling him what to write and cursing him
>violently when he tried to comment on the legality of what
>they were insisting that he include in the draft.
>
>As the lawyer was drafting the resignations one of the
>armed individuals indicated that a telex had come in with
>instructions that the union leadership had to resign from
>Bandegua also. A model draft of the resignation letter was
>given to the lawyer.
>
>After the resignations were completed the union reps were
>herded into the general assembly hall where the armed
>individuals conducted a session in which they mocked the
>leadership, ridiculed them and made dehumanizing
>comments about them. They also forced them to make filmed
>statements indicating that the resignations were voluntary
>and that they appreciated the help of the people of Morales
>in making them come to their senses and desist from their
>union activities. At one point they were instructed to
>hold a sign that said "If they want blood, blood will
>flow."
>
>At 2:00 am, the armed individuals gave them their final
>message that the union leaders were to disappear from
>Morales and never return, that they would be murdered
>should they stay, and then they left.  Some of the union
>leaders then made their way to Guatemala City where they
>sought and received assistance from MINUGUA to obtain safe
>passage for the remaining union leaders and their families.
>(Note: While union leaders were in hiding and trying to get
>to safe houses in Guatemala City, Guatemala press used the
>statements and filming obtained at gunpoint to paint a
>picture of SITRABI's demise and capitulation to Bandegua
>with key business leaders trashing SITRABI in the press.)
>
>The report adds:
>
>"It is important to note that the SITRABI union hall is
>located 400 meters from the national police station in the
>center of Morales. At no time during the entire episode in
>which there were numerous vehicles and armed men
>surrounding the union hall did the national police make any
>effort to
>investigate what was taking place." And:
>
>"The day after the resignations were signed Bandegua
>provided trucks to the fired workers to remove them from
>the Bobos plantations and also proceeded to accept the
>resignations of the union leadership."
>
>After meetings with U.S. embassy officials, local union
>leaders, MINUGUA, human rights representatives, the AFL-CIO
>and US/LEAP, SITRABI union leaders have now put forth a
>list of demands and asked for international support.
>However, they have not yet appeared in public due to
>security
>concerns.
>
>ANALYSIS
>
>Peace Accord Violation: MINUGUA, the U.N. agency monitoring
>implementation of Guatemala's Peace Accords, has said that
>the use of paramilitary forces in Morales makes this the
>second most serious breach of the Peace Accords outside of
>the killing of Archbishop Gerardi. The failure of the
>National Police to intervene and the use of heavily armed
>local "security" forces is considered a serious challenge
>to the integrity of the Peace Accords, according to local
>human rights analysts who are calling on the Guatemalan
>government to move quickly to arrest and prosecute those
>responsible..
>
>Regional Banana Crisis: The Morales incident also takes
>place during a time of grave crisis for banana workers
>throughout the region, a crisis that may have more
>long-term repercussions on the banana sector than Hurricane
>Mitch
>did a year ago. The banana market is glutted, chiefly
>because of sharply rising exports from the world's largest
>exporter, Ecuador, whose low-wage workers are not
>organized. Multinational banana companies and their supply
>chains are responding to very low prices on the world
>market by cutting
>costs, shifting banana production to African palm, moving
>slowly on post-Mitch rehabilitation and suspending or
>firing thousands of workers. Banana workers and unions are
>under pressure throughout the region, including in Costa
>Rica and Honduras as well as in Guatemala, and unions are
>concerned that the banana companies will use the grave
>economic crisis
>as an opportunity to break unions. These concerns have
>proven justified in the case of SITRABI.
>
>Del Monte Fresh Produce Responsibility: While there is no
>evidence of Bandegua's involvement in the Morales incident,
>local analysts say it is impossible for Bandegua not to
>have at least known what was going on in a small community
>like Morales. Most damning for Bandegua is that the company
>has accepted the resignations as legitimate, according to
>the Labor Minister, who has declared the resignations
>invalid and said that the firings that initiated the
>confrontation were a violation of the union's contract.
>
>RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
>
>If you respond to the action requests in this alert, please
>notify Campaign for Labor Rights by sending the following
>notice (not this entire alert!!!) to us by email
><CLR@igc.org> or fax (541) 431-0523 (check one or both
>boxes):
>
>Guatemala embassy contacted [   ]
>Del Monte contacted [   ]
>Your name:
>Your city and state (or country, if not U.S.):
>Organization (only if cited with your signature):
>
>1. Call (202) 745-4952, email <embaguat@sysnet.net> or fax
>(202) 745-1908 the Guatemala Embassy in Washington, DC.
>Sample message:
>
>Ambassador William Stixrud
>Embassy of the Republic of Guatemala
>2200 R Street NW
>Washington, DC 20008
>Dear Ambassador Stixrud:
>
>I am writing to ask that the government of Guatemala
>intervene to ensure the security of all SITRABI workers and
>leaders and that it take swift action to prosecute those
>who have unlawfully threatened their lives.
>
>Banana union leaders in Guatemala leading a fight against
>Del Monte's firing of nearly 1,000 workers were surrounded
>at their union headquarters by 200 heavily armed men on
>October 13, threatened with death and forced to resign and
>abandon their homes. Details of the harrowing experience
>were not made public until this week, when the leaders were
>able to secure safe houses in Guatemala City along with
>their families.
>
>The U.N. agency MINUGUA describes the incident as the most
>serious violation of human rights in Guatemala since the
>killing of Archbishop Juan Jose Gerardi. The Guatemalan
>government's failure so far to ensure the rights and safety
>of these workers raises doubts about its commitment to
>the peace process.
>
>I want to point out, however, that Labor Minister Luis
>Linares has played a positive role in this crisis. I hope
>that his actions are an indicator of future behavior on the
>part of the government in securing the safety and the
>rights of the SITRABI workers.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>2. Call (305) 520-8400 or fax (305) 442-1059 Fresh Del
>Monte Produce.
>Sample message:
>
>Mr. Mohammed Abu-Ghazeleh
>Chief Executive Officer
>Fresh Del Monte Produce
>800 Douglas Entrance
>North Tower, 12th Floor
>Coral Gables, FL 33134
>
>Dear Mr. Abu-Ghazeleh:
>
>I am writing to ask that your company intervene to ensure
>the safety and the rights of SITRABI workers in Guatemala.
>
>Banana union leaders in Guatemala leading a fight against
>Del Monte's firing of nearly 1,000 workers were surrounded
>at their union headquarters by 200 heavily armed men on
>October 13, threatened with death and forced to resign and
>abandon their homes. Details of the harrowing experience
>were not made public until this week, when the leaders were
>able to secure safe houses in Guatemala City along with
>their families.
>
>I hold Del Monte responsible for any further violence
>against its workers. I urge Del Monte to comply quickly
>with ALL of the union's demands, including: publicly
>rejecting the coerced resignations of union members,
>reinstating the fired workers, assuring the public that
>Bandegua is not
>leaving Guatemala and, contrary to statements by Guatemalan
>business leaders, stating publicly that relationships with
>SITRABI have generally been productive and positive.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>
>
>