Wave of anti-union repression in Panama

[Judi Lynn]

Source: International Trade Union Confederation

Wave of anti-union repression in Panama
Wednesday, 14 July 2010, 12:54 pm
Press Release: International Trade Union Confederation
Wave of anti-union repression in Panama

Brussels, 12 July 2010 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC, together with its affiliated organisations in Panama, firmly condemns the violent repression of the strike movement by workers in the Bocas del Toro Province that has resulted in killings, more than 100 people injured and at least 300 arrests.

According to information received by the ITUC, several acts of repression took place on 8 July in the Province, in which six people lost their lives. These unacceptable acts were targeted against banana workers and construction workers from the Panama Canal in Colón. Leaders of the SUNTRACS and CONATO trade unions were arrested.

The striking workers were protesting against the decision by the Government of Panama to impose Law 30, which undermines fundamental rights, such as the right to strike and freedom of association. Law 30 also penalises workers who take their protests to the streets, an offence which can result in up to two years in prison.

According to the latest news, the government has called a cabinet meeting, which is expected to adopt further repressive measures, such as arrest warrants against specific trade union leaders. The suspension of fundamental rights is also a possibility.


Read more: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1007/S00272.htm

[damntexdem]

1. President Ricardo Martinelli. I wonder if he's from the family ...

that owns much of Veraguas Province.

In 1970-71, I was a Peace Corps volunteer stationed in that province south of its capital, Santiago. I worked with farmers on a Ministry of Agriculture demonstration farm. It had the largest rice crop in the province. It was a small oasis in the Martinelli lands, where beef was raised for export to the U.S. -- none sold domestically. Going to my site, barbed wire fences lined both sides of the road, splitting apart for the town where I was sited, coming back together beyond. Except in the town I was in, the entire population of a major peninsula lived behind that barbed wire, on Martinelli land.

The current anti-union simply MUST come from that family. Yechh!