[Cispes-update] CAFTA repercussions in El Salvador: labor violations, repression of vendors, minimum wage and ILO

[CISPES National Office]

CAFTA repercussions in El Salvador: new labor violations in maquila sector,
repression of market vendors, and negligible minimum wage increase

CISPES Update 

August 24, 2006

 

In El Salvador, the government-sanctioned labor violations in the maquila
factories continue in the shadow of CAFTA, and the labor movement fears an
increase in such violations once the implementation of CAFTA is deepened.
Since the Salvadoran government’s bet is to make the country a source of
cheap labor in order to attract foreign investment, and the government does
not have the political will nor capacity to ensure core labor standards,
labor violations will become even more rampant if more of international
capital does in fact arrive.  For the time being, the governing ARENA party
continues to guarantee poverty wages and union-busting tactics for the
maquila industry in particular, and for Salvadoran society as a whole.

 

Two events signify grave times ahead for women working in maquilas.  First,
in early August about 400 women who work in the maquila Quality S.A. de C.V.
took over their factory when the maquila owner attempted to relocate the
workers from San Salvador to Santa Ana, a little more than an hour away.
The minimum wage in Santa Ana is lower, the workers would have to travel
more than two hours a day, and they are already regularly forced to work
overtime.  Even worse, working in another maquila under a different name
would allow the company to default on the workers’ years of earned benefits.
The women have taken direct action to block the maquila owner’s attempts to
take out company machinery and are committed to maintaining the takeover
until they are allowed to resume work in San Salvador or are given severance
pay according to the law.

 

Meanwhile, workers from the Hermosa factory – a maquila that manufactured
clothing for Reebok and Adidas – are preparing for their upcoming court
hearing on Friday, September 1st against the maquila owner, Montalvo
Machado.  The workers have been fighting for more than a year now both in
the streets and in lengthy legal cases ridden with corruption and government
complicity of labor violations.  More than 600 workers, most of which had
worked there for more than 10 years, were left without work, severance pay
and years of earned benefits when Machado closed Hermosa in 2004 and set up
a new shop under a different name.  The illegally fired workers then
unionized under harsh conditions.  The upcoming September 1 hearing in the
case against Montalvo is one of the few remaining cases open and the workers
are calling for international solidarity in the form of political pressure
on the government of El Salvador to comply with the law and respect workers’
rights.

 

Police continues to harass informal vendors as consequence of CAFTA

 

The Movement of Vendors of CD-DVD’s and other Brand-name products (informal
vendors) held a press conference today to denounce continued intimidation
tactics by the National Civilian Police (PNC).  The last couple of weeks
have seen increased captures of vendors and confiscation of their
merchandise under a new justification: that the vendors reproduce child
pornography.  The Movement has immediately and categorically distanced
itself from the sale of pornography, and has charged that the increase in
pornography displayed at some vendors’ stalls is the product of an effort to
delegitimize their struggle.  “After 4 months of CAFTA coming into effect,
the US Chamber of Commerce is breathing down the Salvadoran government’s
neck to apply the Intellectual Property Chapter, with its corresponding
penal and procedural reforms, against those of us that sell CD’s and DVD’s
and against those who produce CD-DVD’s so that we have no merchandise,”
reads the Movements’ latest communiqué.  The vendors have repeatedly
asserted that they rely on the informal sector as a source of income due to
the lack of formal employment, and that CAFTA implementation has
criminalized the subsistence livelihood of tens of thousands of families in
the informal sector.

 

Minimal minimum wage increase

 

After a great deal of media fanfare, on August 16 the Salvadoran government
finally announced what ended up being a ridiculously small increase in the
country’s monthly minimum wage:  10% for the commercial and service sector
(from average $156.60 to $172.26) and 4% for the maquila sector (from
$151.25 to $157.30).  The increase comes after 25% hikes in bus fares, 14%
hikes in electricity, and other skyrocketing cost of living expenses.  The
increase is expected to benefit only 15% of the working population since
most workers earn below minimum wage in the informal sector.  Meanwhile, the
maquila workers are left scrambling to see what they can possibly cover with
the additional $6.05.

 

Victory for Telecommunications Workers

 

Workers from the SUTTEL Telecommunications union – along with union allies –
celebrated in August when the Salvadoran Supreme Court announced its
decision against the government’s denial of legal status for an
industry-wide union, known as SITCOM.  Wilfredo Berrios, a leader of SUTTEL
who toured the U.S. with CISPES last year, applauded the victory but
cautioned that the union still had a lengthy struggle ahead in order to be
recognized by the Ministry of Labor.  For more information, check out
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/406/1/. 

 

Battle over ILO agreements continues 

 

Conventions 87 & 98 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) –
concerning freedom of association, the protection of the right to organize,
and the right to bargain collectively – are currently being debated in El
Salvador’s Legislative Assembly.  The debate over the ILO conventions, which
date from 1948 and 1949, started months ago when the European Union hinted
that El Salvador would be excluded from General System of Preferences (GSP)
benefits – which allow the country to export at reduced import tax rates to
Europe – if it failed to ratify the ILO conventions.  ARENA has delayed the
ratification as much as possible, arguing that Constitutional reforms (which
would require approval by two separate Legislative Assemblies) and a series
of reforms to secondary laws are needed in order to ratify.  However, the
Salvadoran labor movement and the FMLN state that these reforms are not only
unnecessary, but would rather violate and undermine the spirit of the
conventions.  “Salvadoran companies and transnational corporations, who have
been institutionalizing labor flexibilization, are threatened by the
ratification of the ILO agreements,” said Berrios, who is also a leader of
the Salvadoran Labor Front (FSS).  The FSS and other social movement groups
will gather this week at the Legislative Assembly to pressure for
ratification of the conventions, without reforms.

 

**for other recent updates, action alerts, articles and information go to
www.cispes.org**

 

 

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CISPES - Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador 

130 W. 29th Street, 9th floor 

New York, NY 10001

212-465-8115

www.cispes.org

 

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