Working people, trade unionists, and pro-democracy activists are under attack around the world. In El Salvador, workers at the AVX electronics manufacturing plant and at CTE-América Móvil, owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, are facing harassment and illegal firings for the simple act of having dared to join a union.
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Workers and leaders at America Movil and AVX have endured intimidation, retaliatory dismissals, and blacklisting for exercising their right to freedom of association. Photo by CEAL |
Workers and leaders at the two companies have endured intimidation, retaliatory dismissals, and blacklisting for exercising their right to freedom of association. After an eight-year struggle, workers finally won legal recognition for the union of AVX workers (SITRAVX) and the industrial union of telecommunications workers (SITCOM).
However, workers and union leaders at the two companies now report intimidation, retaliatory dismissals, and blacklisting for exercising their right to freedom of association.
In September 2011, contrary to the Salvadoran constitution, the Salvadoran labor code, and rights guaranteed under international law, Humberto Centeno, El Salvador’s Minister of Labor, decreed the dissolution of both unions. By law, a union can only be dissolved at the request of its members or if its membership falls below 35 affiliates in a year.
Trade unionists in El Salvador and around the world are dismayed that the Ministry of Labor, charged with upholding and defending the rights of Salvadoran workers, seems to have ceded its responsibility to protect and defend working people in the country. The members of SITRAVX and SITCOM are taking their case to the Salvadoran Supreme Court, but already workers are suffering the results of this anti-union decision. More than 100 workers have been fired.
"UNI Says Unions Must Be Reinstated Now at America Movil El Salvador," UNI News Online, September 22, 2011
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