De sévères représailles contre les dirigeants des syndicats au Guatemala qui s'opposent à des conditions de travail dangereuses

Human Rights Defenders:

SITRADYMELSAAC Electrical Union, in collaboration with Rights Action

Rights:

To work and rights at work, to freedom of opinion and expression, to freedom of association, to an adequate standard of living, to health, to life

Strategies:

Legal assistance and litigation, networking, advocacy, alternative dispute resolution, human rights research and reporting

Problem:

Fernando Lopez Lopez, a skilled mechanic, was killed while working at the San Jose power plant in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. His death was the direct cause of his employer’s negligent safety policies. The employer, DYMEL, was a Salvadoran construction subcontractor working for a US firm. Lopez’s co-workers organized a labor union in January 1999, and urged the company to institute policies and procedures adequate to ensure the highest attainable occupational health and safety standards. In response, the workers were fired.

The workers thereafter petitioned the Guatemalan courts and received a judgment on June 8, 1999 that directed DYMEL to re-instate them and to respect their right to organize. The company never complied with the order.

Action:

The workers launched a ten-month vigil on the steps of Guatemala’s Presidential Palace to draw attention to their cause. They also networked with other members of civil society who spearheaded their own projects. For example, Rights Action organized a speaking tour for one of the union leaders, and launched a letter-writing campaign. After a series of negotiations, on October 8, 2002, seventy-one members of the trade union received financial settlements totaling approximately 85% of their back-pay.

Tragically, however, since the settlement, many of the workers remain unemployed. It appears that they have been “black-listed” by local employers. Two union leaders, for example, have reported that, although they applied for positions at twenty-five separate factories and construction sites and were given preliminary indications that they would be hired, the men were not awarded the jobs when their potential employers ran their information by the Human Resources Department for background checks. Human rights defenders continue to issue appeals for the unemployed union leaders, and are now attempting to source jobs for them outside of the country.