The recently published International Trade Union Confederation’s Annual Survey Of Trade Union Rights has documented a significant and appalling rise in the number of trade unionists murdered during the past 12 months.
The ITUC has documented more than101 killings – a shocking increase of 30 per cent in 2009.
The survey also reveals growing pressure on workers’ employment rights around the globe as the economic crisis bites deep.
Of the 101 murdered trade union members and activists, 48 were killed in Colombia, described as “the union murder capital of the world” and still the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist. Sixteen lost their lives in Guatemala, 12 in Honduras, six in Mexico, six in Bangladesh, four in Brazil, three in the Dominican Republic, three in the Philippines, one in India, one in Iraq and one in Nigeria.
Twenty-two of the murdered Colombian trade unionists were senior union leaders, and of those, five were women. “Colombia was yet again the country where standing up for fundamental rights of workers is more likely than anywhere else to mean a death sentence, despite the Colombian government’s public relations campaign to the contrary”, says Guy Ryder, the ITUC’s outgoing general secretary.
Colombia’s record of anti-union violence comes on top of the country being named as the most violent nation in Latin America in the Global Peace Index for 2010.
All this makes even stronger the damning arguments against any free-trade agreements with Columbia. It nails the lie of those governments which would have us believe that Colombia is now providing peace and stability for its people.
Juan Manuel Santos, Columbia’s notorious defence minister who is identified with death squads and crimes against humanity and who was supposedly “elected” last month, should be shunned by the United States, the European and the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition here in Britain.
The worsening situations in both Guatemala and Honduras are now another cause of major concern for trade unionists.
In Honduras, 12 union members have been assassinated – mostly during the military coup last year. Yet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is arguing for Honduras’ readmission to the Organisation of American States. But it was the coup which resulted in Honduras’ expulsion from the OAS in the first place.
A further 10 attempted murders and 35 serious death threats have been recorded, again in Colombia and Guatemala. Many trade unionists have been arrested on bogus and trumped-up charges in Iran, Honduras, Pakistan, South Korea, Turkey and Zimbabwe. Trade union rights have been violated in Egypt, the Russian Federation, South Korea and Turkey.
The ITUC survey records an extensive list of violations suffered by trade unionists fighting to defend workers’ rights in 140 countries.
Along with the appalling list of killings, the survey provides detailed documentation of harassment, intimidation and other forms of anti-union persecution.
According to the ITUC, sackings due to union membership and activities have been reported in many regions. Brutal union-busting methods are routinely used by employers, with companies threatening workers that they will close down sites or transfer production elsewhere if people organise themselves into unions.
The report highlights that six garment workers in Bangladesh who went on strike for a pay increase and wages owed to them died after police intervention in their dispute.
The ITUC reports that many employers simply refuse to negotiate with unions, while the authorities stand by and do nothing. In some countries, employment laws have been amended to permit more “flexibility” and unravel social welfare systems. This has often impacted on industrial relations and further undermined trade union rights.
However, many violations remain unreported, as union members are deprived of the means to ensure their voices are heard throughout the international trade union movement.
The ITUC survey also shows a growth of informal employment and the development of new, “atypical” forms of working, such as temporary, agency and casual employment, making it difficult for unions to organise.
Free trade unions and decent statutory employment rights are essential in any democratic society. However, despite 2009 being the 60th anniversary of the International Labour Organisation’s Convention 98 on the “right to organise and collective bargaining”, this convention has still not been ratified by countries such as Canada, China, India, Iran, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
Meanwhile, trade unionists in Britain will continue to campaign to highlight the attacks on trade unionists worldwide and seek to ensure that countries such as Columbia and Honduras remain pariah states.
Tony Burke is assistant general secretary of Unite
