News

Prosegur unions from Latin America shared evidence of the company’s brutality against unionised workers and serious neglect of safety standards during a meeting with European counterparts in Madrid.

Unions from Colombia, Brazil, Uruguay, Peru and Chile presented details of an anti-union campaign by Prosegur that threatens workers lives and flagrantly flouts national labour laws in Latin American countries. The company, workers say, is leading a calculated attempt to break up trade unions using similar tactics in multiple countries which include bribes, threats and acts of violence, sham collective agreements and meaningless six figure court cases brought against workers.

“We have heard overwhelming evidence of Prosegur’s brutality towards trade unions and its dangerous neglect of safety standards,” said Head of UNI Property Services Alice Dale.

“We cannot accept putting workers lives at risks because of Prosegur’s anti-union agenda. It’s time for the company to come to the table to agree a resolution to these issues.”

Grave concerns over safety procedures were also identified including the use of under-armoured vehicles, poor and out of date safety equipment and an arrogant disregard for procedure which had put workers’ lives at risk. 18 Prosegur workers died on the job in 2014 and unions have complained that their legitimate safety concerns are being ignored by management in the region.

Unions from Europe included those from Spain, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, UK, Turkey, Finland and Portgual. Of these countries Prosegur has operations in Spain, Germany and Portugal. Unions in these countries said their relationships with the company on the whole were positive but expressed their deep and profound shock and anger at the treatment of their colleagues in Latin America.