El Salvador

In late April 2021, La Constancia, a subsidiary of AB InBev, unfairly fired 32 workers who were all members of the Union of Constancia Workers (Sitraconsta). On July 30, the company dismissed 30 additional union members.
Sitraconsta continues to request negotiations with AB InBev’s subsidiary, but to date the company has ignored the union and claims it is too busy dealing with restructuring and the pandemic.
La Constancia continues to intimidate union members by telling them that the layoffs are Sitraconsta’s fault and offering job security to workers showing proof of resignation from the union.
In response to this series of threats and harassment against union members by management, the IUF Latin America Region has sent a letter to the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, urging him to intervene to ensure that the company respects the international treaties ratified by El Salvador on freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework and collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
.

In December 2018, the Sindicato de Trabajadores del Instituto Salvadoreño del Seguro Social (STISSS) duly elected its executive board during its congress. In April 2019, a small group of dissident members, far fewer than the 25 per cent required to call an extraordinary assembly, nonetheless did so. This illegitimate extraordinary assembly dissolved the executive board and chose a new executive board, all in violation of the union’s statutes and due process.

The Labor Ministry accepted the registration of this new, illegal executive board and notified the legitimate leaders on 4 September 2019. In response, STISSS issued a denunciation, stating that the registration represents a violation of statutes and due process.

The illegal removal of the legitimately elected leadership (composed of Armida Estela Franco, José Roberto Méndez, Kelvin René Rojas, Francisco Andrés Franco, José Abel Cerna, Jenny Elizabeth Barrientos, Eduardo Calles Recibos, Nelly del Carmen Ponce and Jaime Leonel Martinez) represents a usurpation of STISSS by unrepresentative and unduly elected individuals in violation of its bylaws. The recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. of this illegitimate executive board by the Labour Ministry is an affront to freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework , union democracy, and respect for the rule of law.

As a result of the Labour Ministry decision, this minority group has control over the union’s finances and members’ dues, which should have been put under custodianship until the dispute between the two executive boards is resolved. Union activists report their fear that there is a concerted effort to legitimise the new leadership on behalf of the Salvadoran government.

These acts violate fundamental labour norms, the Salvadoran labour code, and El Salvador’s obligations under International Labour Organization International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.

See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights conventions.

On 19 September 2019, an ad hoc committee of the Legislative Assembly met to discuss the draft of the proposed new Public Service Act. The leaders of the public service workers’ federation FESTRASPES and two general workers’ federations, the FUGTS and the FSTD, spoke out against the proposed legislation, warning that it violates workers’ rights by ending the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike , among other detrimental measures.

In January 2018, various members of the USTTISDEMU (Unión Sindical de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras del Instituto Salvadoreño para el Desarrollo de la Mujer), the union representing workers at the Salvadorian Institute for the Development of Women, filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office against Vanda Pignato and Yanira Argueta, the president and the director of the Salvadorian Institute for the Development of Women, among others, for violating freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework and hindering freedom of assembly during 2017. The trade union has been denouncing these practices since 2016, but the situation remains unchanged. The members of the USTTISDEMU complained that their pay had been deducted for the work carried out to defend labour rights. They also denounced that employees had been transferred and disciplined, in violation of the legal provisions protecting trade union representatives and the right to freedom of association freedom of association The right to form and join the trade union of one’s choosing as well as the right of unions to operate freely and carry out their activities without undue interference.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework .

On 22 December 2015, over 15 expert inspectors and technicians with over seven years experience in the Civil Aviation Authority were dismissed from their posts without justification and without respect for the legal procedures. The workers were members of the airport industry workers’ union Sindicato de Trabajadoras y Trabajadores de la Industria Aeroportuaria de El Salvador Similares y Conexos (SITIAPES).

On 28 February 2014, the Central Autónoma de Trabajadores Salvadoreños (CATS) denounced a series of anti-union dismissals by the municipal authorities in Apopa and San Martín.

According to the CATS, the municipal government of Apopa violated national laws by unfairly dismissing trade union leaders or transferring them to other posts with poorer pay and conditions.

In San Martín, the municipal authority dismissed the General Secretary and the Education and Culture Secretary of the Sindicato de Empleados y Trabajadores de la Alcaldía Municipal de San Martín (SETRAMUSAM). It also transferred the First Disputes Secretary, the Treasurer, the Social Welfare and Assistance Secretary and the Minutes and Agreements Secretary, reducing their pay and conditions.

In June 2013, almost two years after having requested the start of negotiations on a new collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
agreement, the Sindicato de Empresa LIDO SA (SELSA) has had to deal with an anti-union onslaught by the company and the dismissive attitude of the labour authorities. The trade union denounced the fact that the company had created a climate of psychological harassment against staff, to make them leave the union, attacking and smearing the SELSA leaders as well as lowering salaries and even dismissing workers no longer protected by trade union immunity.

The 67.000 workers, mainly women, employed in El Salvador’s 15 export processing zones (EPZ export processing zone A special industrial area in a country where imported materials are processed before being re-exported. Designed to attract mostly foreign investors by offering incentives such as exemptions from certain trade barriers, taxes, business regulations, and/or labour laws. ) are faced with exploitation, mistreatment, verbal abuse, threats and sexual harassment. The textile maquila is characterised by its staunch anti-union policy, dismissing workers attempting to exercise their trade union rights, be it forming a union or joining an existing one. EPZ export processing zone A special industrial area in a country where imported materials are processed before being re-exported. Designed to attract mostly foreign investors by offering incentives such as exemptions from certain trade barriers, taxes, business regulations, and/or labour laws. employees are considered to work in slave-like conditions. Many public employees are also denied the right to organise and there are so many restrictions on the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.

See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike that it is practically impossible to exercise it. Private sector workers are faced with heavy restrictions as well as excessive requirements and red tape when trying to form or affiliate with a union. Anti-union practices are extremely widespread and the public authorities do not take adequate measures to stop them. Furthermore, the law does not provide for the reinstatement of workers unfairly dismissed on account of their union membership or activities.

Practices such as subcontracting workers constitute an obstacle to trade union organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. and collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
. In addition, blacklists are still being circulated, especially in the export processing zones, and anyone who has had any links with a trade union is denied the right to work.

The Labour Ministry’s mediation mediation A process halfway between conciliation and arbitration, in mediation a neutral third party assists the disputing parties in reaching a settlement to an industrial dispute by suggesting possible, non-binding solutions.

See arbitration, conciliation between trade unions and employers remains inadequate. The Labour Ministry mediators act only as listeners and have no other powers or competences to ensure effective mediation mediation A process halfway between conciliation and arbitration, in mediation a neutral third party assists the disputing parties in reaching a settlement to an industrial dispute by suggesting possible, non-binding solutions.

See arbitration, conciliation .

According to various unions, positive changes have been seen in the way the Labour Ministry now operates, especially in the area of inspections related to labour rights violations. It has also been noted that, with the change in government attitude, it is easier to raise awareness and recruit workers, including subcontracted staff, and to establish a social dialogue social dialogue Discussion and co-operation between the social partners on matters of common interest, such as economic and social policy. Involves participation by the state where tripartism is practice. with companies on issues such as job stability and security.

According to Jaime Rivera, head of the electrical sector union, Sindicato de Trabajadores del Sector Eléctrico (STSEL), and general secretary of the national public workers’ federation, Federación Sindical de Trabajadores de los Servicios Públicos de EL Salvador (FESTRASPES), one of the most significant advances seen with the new government is the speeding up of trade union recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. , in some cases. One example is the recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. of the union at the AVX-Kyocera factory, Sindicato de Trabajadores de Empresa AVX-Kyocera (SITRAVX), in the San Bartolo export processing zone export processing zone A special industrial area in a country where imported materials are processed before being re-exported. Designed to attract mostly foreign investors by offering incentives such as exemptions from certain trade barriers, taxes, business regulations, and/or labour laws. . This union had been waiting for recognition recognition The designation by a government agency of a union as the bargaining agent for workers in a given bargaining unit, or acceptance by an employer that its employees can be collectively represented by a union. from the Labour Ministry for two years and the company took advantage of this time to dismiss and intimidate its founders.
Another emblematic case is the communications industry union, Sindicato de Trabajadores de las Comunicaciones (SITCOM), which has been waiting to be registered for six years and despite more recent hopes of seeing the process accelerated, it had still not been recognised by the end of 2009.
 

Although the right to collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
is recognised in law, it is not applied in export processing zones (EPZ export processing zone A special industrial area in a country where imported materials are processed before being re-exported. Designed to attract mostly foreign investors by offering incentives such as exemptions from certain trade barriers, taxes, business regulations, and/or labour laws. s), owing to the extreme anti-union discrimination anti-union discrimination Any practice that disadvantages a worker or a group of workers on grounds of their past, current or prospective trade union membership, their legitimate trade union activities, or their use of trade union services. Can constitute dismissal, transfer, demotion, harassment and the like.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework

practised by employers, and the government’s abdication of its responsibility to defend the collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
rights of workers in EPZ export processing zone A special industrial area in a country where imported materials are processed before being re-exported. Designed to attract mostly foreign investors by offering incentives such as exemptions from certain trade barriers, taxes, business regulations, and/or labour laws. s. Any attempt at organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. is repressed. Workers attempting to form or join a union are threatened either with dismissal or the relocation of the company, which would leave everyone jobless.

Discriminatory “blacklists” are one of the tools most frequently used by employers against trade unions, especially in the export processing zones. By denying jobs to people with any links to trade unions, companies succeed in excluding virtually all trade unionists from these zones, thus making it harder to create new unions. There is total complicity between the various firms, which all send these lists to one another. In spite of repeated complaints, the state institutions are doing nothing to tackle this problem.

Employment practices such as subcontracting workers via third companies act as a barrier to organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. and collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
. In such cases, the employers’ responsibilities are diluted and totally obscured, since the companies and management that the workers deal with directly are not their legal employers. As a result, the company will never recognise a union and is even less likely to engage in collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.

See collective bargaining agreement
.

During the first 100 days of the new government, which took office on 1 June, a trade union education centre was established within the Labour Ministry. It is hoped that labour rights and trade union freedoms will be included in the curriculums of secondary schools and higher education centres.