Global labour report denounces repression

radman resist at best.com
Thu Sep 14 13:01:05 PDT 2000


> INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU)

>

> ICFTU Online

>From: "Luc Demaret" <icftu.press at mail.be>

>Global labour report denounces repression

>

>Thousands of people targeted for trade union activities world-wide

>

> Brussels, September 13 2000 (ICFTU OnLine): At least 140 trade unionists

> were assassinated, disappeared, or committed suicide after they were

> threatened, because they had the temerity to stand up for workers' rights

> against the state or unscrupulous employers, according to an annual survey

> published today (September 13) by the Brussels-based International

> Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). The Survey details violations

> of trade union rights in 113 countries during the period from January 1,

> 1999 to December 31, 1999. It says that nearly 3000 people were arrested,

> more then 1,500 were injured, beaten or tortured and at least 5,800 were

> harassed because of their legitimate trade union activities. Another 700

> trade unionists received death threats.

>

> "This year's report gives an opportunity to denounce the prevailing

> hypocrisy which sees government officials parading at international

> gatherings, ostensibly promoting basic workers' rights, while those who

> actually defend those fundamental rights at home are being harassed,

> attacked, threatened, sidelined or silenced - sometimes for ever," said

> Bill Jordan, general secretary of the ICFTU while presenting this year's

> findings.

>

> Abuses compiled in the survey range from murder to subtle legislative

> arrangements that make trade union activities increasingly looking like a

> daunting obstacle race.

>

> Some 12,000 workers were unfairly dismissed or refused reinstatement,

> sometimes with the complicity of the government, because they were active

> members of a trade union. At least 140 strikes or demonstrations were

> repressed by governments, sometimes with the support of the employers using

> strike breakers, while 80 of the 113 countries mentioned in the survey

> restrict the right to strike altogether.

>

> "Ruthless repression in Latin America, attacks and interference in Asia,

> arrests and imprisonment in Africa, severe restrictions and non-payment of

> wage in Eastern Europe and a growing trend to "union busting" activities in

> industrialised countries" are key findings of this year's findings,

> according to Bill Jordan. The ICFTU's annual report forms part of its

> campaign to promote a link between respect for core labour standards and

> international trade arrangements. The survey reports on violations of two

> of the most ratified Conventions of the UN's International Labour

> Organisation (ILO): Conventions 87 on Freedom of Association ratified by

> 130 countries and Convention 98 on the right to organise and collective

> bargaining ratifies by 145 countries.

>

> The ICFTU is the world's largest international trade union organisations

> with affiliated national centres in 145 countries representing more than

> 123 million workers world-wide.

>

> The Americas

>

> The Latin American continent remains the most dangerous place in the world

> for trade unionists. 90 trade unionists lost their lives, twice as many as

> any other continent, and about 70% of those arrested world-wide for

> carrying out trade union activities were from Latin America.

>

> Forming a trade union within an enterprise is virtually impossible in many

> Latin American countries. Workers' rights are ignored in the export

> processing zones (in particular in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala,

> Mexico and Honduras) and strikes are severely repressed: 726 trade

> unionists were injured or beaten for trying to enforce their rights. Those

> defending the workers' cause are constantly harassed by the authorities and

> employers. In at least two Export processing zones, renowned multinationals

> were described as resorting to pregnancy tests before recruiting workers.

>

> In Colombia, 76 trade unionists were assassinated or reported missing.

> These included 23 trade union leaders, 52 grass roots union activists, and

> a union bodyguard. There were 676 death threats, 13 attempted

> assassinations, 22 kidnaps, 28 forced exiles. The authorities used

> unnecessary force to end strikes, 149 people were injured and 418 arrested.

>

> In Argentina, mass demonstrations in several provinces to demand the

> payment of wages were brutally repressed by the police, leaving five dead

> and 25 injured.

>

> The situation for trade unionists in Guatemala remained very dangerous.

> Three of them were assassinated and there were at least 20 death threats

> against trade union leaders. Violence was particularly bad against workers

> in the banana plantations, where transitional corporations tried to destroy

> the trade unions.

>

> In Costa Rica, banana workers trying to form unions risk the sack, and are

> put on black lists. The suppression of labour unions enables employers to

> ignore safety regulations. Sometimes with dramatic results. The use of,

> otherwise forbidden, pesticides h as led to the death of workers. Cases of

> sterility and of women delivering deformed babies were also reported.

>

> In the United States, freedom of association and the right to strike are

> severely restricted. At least one in 10 union supporters campaigning to

> form a union is illegally fired. The instances of extreme exploitation have

> increased in particular of foreign workers recruited through private

> employment agencies. About 40% of public service employees are refused the

> right to strike and to bargain collectively. Workers regularly face

> harassment.

>

> Africa

>

> Trade union repression is rife in Africa. In this continent nearly four

> out of five arrests world-wide took place in Africa. 80% of the world

> total of those given prison sentences for their trade union activities were

> in Africa. Strikes and demonstrations were also harshly repressed. The

> legislation of 23 of the 31 African countries covered contains restrictive

> measures on the right to strike. Trade unionists are frequently harassed in

> Africa. The survey lists 834 cases, in nearly two thirds of African

> countries, a higher average than any other continent.

>

> An overriding feature in Africa is government interference in trade unions

> internal affairs. In Libya, Sudan, and in Equatorial Guinea the ban on

> independent trade unions remained. In the Central African Republic, the

> government continued to target the USTC and its leader, Thophile

> Sonny-Cole, was beaten up and prevented from attending international

> conferences.

>

> In Ethiopia, two leaders of the teachers' union ETA died in prison because

> of poor conditions, while another received a 15-year prison sentence, as

> part of continual harassment of the ETA. The national union centre the CETU

> remained under government control. The authorities in Djibouti imposed

> their own candidates at the top of the UGTD and the UDT, and froze their

> assets, claiming that the genuine organisations were illegal.

>

> In Morocco, 23 trade unionists were sent prison after striking over labour

> law violations, 21 of whom had been tortured by police in detention.

>

> In Swaziland, trade unions continued to be repressed, and the SFTU and its

> leaders were regularly harassed. The police detained the entire national

> executive committee of the Swazi Teachers Union, accusing them of

> "un-Swazi" behaviour because they had carried a coffin during a march.

>

> Zimbabwe was another country where respect for trade union rights

> deteriorated dramatically, and three leaders of the ZCTU were attacked

> following a strike. Strikes were declared illegal, and those taking party

> severely harassed.

>

> Asia and the Pacific

>

> At least 37 trade unionists lost their lives during strikes and many others

> were wounded in 1999. All the countries in the survey have legislation

> limiting the fundamental right to organise. In some countries such as

> Bangladesh and Pakistan workers have no trade union rights in the export

> processing zones, while in other countries such as Thailand, Fiji, India

> and Sri Lanka trade unions are not allowed in practice. Strikes and

> demonstrations are fiercely repressed. 19 of the 25 countries in the region

> have anti-strike legislation. In 40% of countries, trade unionists were

> beaten or injured as a result of their trade union activities. The

> authorities frequently intervened in trade union affairs, as according to

> the survey, nearly half of all cases of interference took place in Asia.

>

> In North Korea and Burma, the authorities have banned the formation of

> independent trade unions..

>

> China represses any attempt to form independent trade unions. Many trade

> unionists remained behind bars or were sent to prison without trial. At

> least 164 independent labour activists were sent to "rehabilitation through

> labour" camps. Hundreds of Chine se workers were injured during clashes

> with the police as they were protesting against the closures of factory

> which have resulted in millions of people losing their jobs.

>

> In Indonesia, although the trade union situation has improved the fall of

> President Suharto, the police and military still brutally intervene in most

> strikes.

>

> In South Korea, 230 people were arrested, more than 150 were injured and

> over 650 were harassed in anti-union repression.

>

> The recent history of Australian trade unionism has been one of continual

> assaults on trade unions at national and state level through the

> introduction of repressive legislation to deprive unions of their rights.

>

> There was no improvement in Pakistan's poor trade union rights record, and

> in 1999 the government added to the already severe restrictions. A wide

> range of workers cannot belong to unions, and in the country's export

> processing zones workers cannot form unions, bargain or go on strike.

>

> In Turkey the police have a record of continually repressing

>demonstrations.

>

> Middle East

>

> Trade unions are virtually non-existent in the Middle East, according to

> the ICFTU's trade union rights' survey. In all the cases examined by the

> ICFTU, legal barriers prevent workers from organising or from holding

> strikes. In Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab

> Emirates, foreign workers, who make up at least two thirds of the labour

> force have virtually no rights and are not covered by any of the existing

> collective agreements. The situation is slightly better in Kuwait, where

> workers who have been in the country for five years are allowed to join

>unions.

>

> In Israel, the government used the law to ban strikes in the public sector,

> and Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip who work in Israel

> cannot join Israeli trade unions nor can they organise their own unions in

> Israel.

>

> Europe

>

> Seven people in Europe lost their lives owing to their trade union

> activities, while another two committed suicide to draw the authorities'

> attention to the conditions they faced. In one quarter of the countries

> examined, trade unionists were injured or beaten. In nearly half of Eastern

> Europe, the government interfered in the trade unions' internal affairs.

> This interference amounted to about one third of the world total.

>

> In Belarus, President Lukashenko has established total state control over

> trade unions, making it impossible to start independent trade unions, or

> for unions to carry out legitimate activities. Trade unionists have been

> arrested for taking part in demonstrations or threatened with the sack if

> they do not leave the union.

>

> In Russia, four trade unionists were assassinated. Throughout the year the

> authorities refused to listen to the strikers' demands, often over the non-

> payment of wages.

>

> In Malta, the entire leadership of the General Workers Union as well as

> striking workers were charged with criminal offences, during the six-month

> industrial dispute, and 80 trade unionists were injured and 41 arrested.

>

> Restrictions on trade union rights persisted in Western Europe. In the

> United Kingdom companies used anti-union legislation still on the statute

> books to interfere in union affairs. 300 strikers were fired during a

> dispute with Lufthansa sky chefs, the world's largest catering company.

>

> Belgium is mentioned for court decisions which undermine the right to

> strike, and Germany and Switzerland ban the right to strike for certain

> categories of civil servant.

>

> For more information, please contact the ICFTU Press Department on +32 2

> 224 0202 or +32 476 62 10 18.

>



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