News

UNI Global Union welcomes the decision of El Salvador Minister of Labour Humberto Centeno to return legal status to Salvadoran telecom union Sindicato de Industria de los Trabajadores de las Comunicaciones (SITCOM) a few months after he decertified the union under pressure from Mexican telecom giant America Movil.

SITCOM, with the support of the Salvadoran and international union movement, won an important victory over America Movil’s union-busting tactics. Hundreds of UNI members joined a global campaign to send letters to Centeno urging him to return SITCOM’s legal recognition as a trade union.

UNI is still pressing Centeno to recognize Salvadoran union SITRAVX, which represents workers at Japanese multinational KYOCERA, whose legal recognition as a union was also revoked in September.

“We congratulate SITCOM on this win but we are disappointed that SITRAVX members still being unfairly denied union recognition,” said Head of UNI ICTS Marcus Courtney. “We will continue to monitor the situation in El Salvador and take further action as necessary to ensure that the government and multinationals respect union rights.”

A resolution passed in September in the Labour Court, which is chaired by the father of a lawyer who works for America Movil’s Salvadoran business Claro, revoked SITCOM’s legal recognition. Not satisfied with this, the company pressed Centeno to dissolve the union. UNI and telecom affiliates in the Americas filed an OECD complaint about these practices in September.

In a written decision on the reversal, Centeno says to “return things to the state they were in prior to issuing this resolution”, which means the union can now press for recognition at various telecom companies including America Movil and Atento (the call center business owned by Telefonica) where the company has discriminated against and fired workers for union activity.

UNI will stand in solidarity with SITCOM, its leaders and its members as they work for recognition with employers.