Honduras Coup: The Labor Angle

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/4732/honduras_coup_the_labor_angle/

Friday August 14 10:00 am


Maria Luisa Borjas, a former police officer in Honduras, says unions have been the strongest arm of the resistance against the recent coup. (Kari Lydersen)


The “golpistas” who took power in Honduras after forcibly expelling president Manuel Zelaya on June 28 have largely attributed their actions to Zelaya’s call for a vote on whether to revise the Constitution through a democratic process, which could have led to the abolishment of term limits.

But the real reason, according to Honduran civil society leaders, was fear of a new constitution less favorable to the long-ruling oligarchy and the corporations they control; and Zelaya’s moves in recent years to raise the minimum wage and empower campesinos, workers and civil groups.

In other words, maintaining the labor status quo was a major reason for the coup, according to four Honduran community and non-governmental leaders who visited Washington DC, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago in the past few weeks. This is a status quo where, like much of Latin America, large multinational companies or local powerful, wealthy families typically get their way and exploit natural resources and cheap labor with little accountability.

“The oligarchy traditionally has power, and they don’t want to share it,” said Abencio Fernandez Pineda, an attorney and coordinator of the Center for the Investigation and Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CIPRODEH), which has logged at least nine political killings since the coup and thinks the real number is much higher. “They treat people like slaves, if you visit the maquilas that’s what you see. The people behind the coup are from private enterprises, they own the economy, they own the people in politics.”

Honduran unions including the teachers’ union, beverage bottlers, electrical workers and water workers are part of the multi-faceted Bloque Popular opposing the coup. The major Honduran labor federations, the CUTH, CGT and CTH, have called several general strikes demanding Zelaya’s return. On July 26, a bomb was set off outside the beverage workers’ union (Sindicato de Trabajadores de Bebidas y Similares- STBYS) office just after a meeting of unionists, students, campesinos and others, on their way to the funeral of a young Zelaya supporter whose body was found with signs of torture the day before.

Maria Luisa Borjas, a Congressional candidate in the upcoming November elections with the leftist UD party, said organized labor has been key in mobilizing the population and gaining solidarity from U.S. and European unions. International unions including the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and International Textile Workers Federation have made statements against the coup and called for a boycott of Honduran exports; and AFL-CIO officials have spoken in support of Zelaya.

FULL story at link.