Globalising struggle

Veröffentlicht: 26 Juli 2010
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 Raul Requena, Regional Secretary of UNI Americas, considers that binding instruments created at the international level to denounce anti-union practices “must be used” to counteract the employer’s strategy of appropriating those spaces.



From UNI he is promoting the subscription of global framework agreements with global companies with in order to guarantee the fulfilment of the Conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). “Even if they are not strictly speaking collective agreements, with these conventions we create a better ground for the development of the relationship of transnational companies and unions”, declared the Chilean leader.



Requena said that although most multinationals, especially the Spanish companies, acknowledge that more than a 65% of their profits come from Latin American operations, both realities still maintain an important salary gap.



“We are not saying that a Bolivian, Chilean or Uruguayan worker should earn the same as a Spaniard, but there must be a more reasonable relationship. These multinationals are prone to disregard international agreements and have a different behaviour in Latin America than in their countries of origin”, he continued.



This situation affects companies like the private security company Prosegur, Zara stores, Santander and BBVA banks, the telecommunication company Telefónica and the Energy corporations Endesa and Union Fenosa, among others.



Conflicts with other multinationals like City Bank, Itaú, Wal- Mart and Carrefour have also been reported, as a result of their anti-union policies.



“Many union persecutions end in more complex situations. Investigations reveal that some multinationals are involved in the activities of death squadrons in Guatemala, Brazil and Colombia. It was proved, for example, that representatives of the Banana Company Chiquita Brands had hired killers in Colombia”, he continued.



According to Requena, in order to denounce these situations the labour movement “must start using” binding instruments at the international level. As an example, he mentioned the United Nations Global Compact, which is included in the millennium goals and establishes obligations for the big companies that subscribe it.



“When you have a problem with a global company the first thing you have to do is to learn if it has subscribed the global compact and get in touch with the contact point in the United Nations”, he stated. Even if not every Latin American State is part of that space, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has guidelines of multinational practices.



“Anti-union practices can also be denounced there, or the Commission on Freedom of Association of the ILO” These are tools which unions must start using, employers are aware of this and they make use of these, with lobbyists and lawyers, to unions it seems more difficult because they consider these to be merely bureaucratic fields”, he concluded.

UNI Americas is the regional division representing the American continent and the Caribbean, with its regional office in Panama. The Federation, with headquarters in Switzerland, includes services sectors, bank, private security, postal workers, commerce, telecommunications, professionals, and entertainment workers, among others. It represents 25 million workers from all over the world, and Requena is the political and administrative responsible of the Regional Office.



Fuente: CCSCS