Unión Nacional para la Defensa de la Clase Trabajadora
The Unión Nacional para la Defensa de la Clase Trabajadora (National Union for the Defence of the Working Class) is a trade union organisation founded in 2016, that works to defend labour rights in El Salvador. It is currently comprised of several trade union organisations and workers movements. They advocate for the labour, social and economic rights of the working class in national and international spaces. Additionally, they document and condemn violations of labour rights, seeking to protect these rights as an essential part of ensuring dignity for workers.
It is one of the founding organisations of the Movimiento por la Defensa de los Derechos de la Clase Trabajadora (Movement for the Defence of Working Class Rights) and the Coordinadora Nacional para la Defensa de la Salud del Pueblo Salvadoreño (National Coordinator for the Defence of the Health of the Salvadorean People).
The human rights defender community is regularly subjected to campaigns of defamation - they are labeled as 'traitors of the nation', 'terrorists' and 'subversive'. This tactic employed by the authorities is designed to discredit and undermine the work of human rights defenders by isolating and marginalising them, making them a vulnerable target for abuse. Community leaders and environmental activists who are opposed to large-scale mining projects face death threats and violence.
