Panama - 2012

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Population: 3,500,000
Capital: Panama
Whole sectors of workers are denied the right to organise, applications for legal personality are denied and the right to organise is not recognised for public employees, bank workers, workers in the Colón 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. , education workers, dock workers, and employees of call centres, among others. Impunity persists.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)

reported violations - 2012

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Background

In less than two years of the Ricardo Marinelli government, Panama’s working class has suffered more deaths, injuries and prison sentences than in the previous 22 years. The government insists on criminalising social protests, adopting laws such as Law 14 or the “Jailhouse Law” as it is known, aimed at sending to prison anyone who dares to demonstrate in the street in defence of their rights.

The economic and social situation has become increasingly difficult. Inflation and the cost of living have risen alarmingly. This has driven down the value of real wages and significantly reduced workers’ purchasing power.

The government is opposed, however, to an across-the-board pay rise and the establishment of a minimum wage for the whole country.

ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 3,500,000
Capital: Panama

reported violations- 2012

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Trade union rights in law

There are a number of problematic areas in the law despite basic trade union rights being recognised. 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 is guaranteed in law. However, public sector workers do not have the right to form unions but only “associations”, and the minimum membership requirements for creating both associations and unions are excessive. There can only be one association per institution, and only one branch per province. While trade union protection is guaranteed to union leaders, it is only extended to 11 union members. Furthermore, while both private and public sector workers may 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
, new enterprises are not compelled to conclude collective agreements during the first two years of operation.

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 is recognised in the Constitution, but a 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 must be agreed upon by an absolute majority of the workers in an enterprise. Strikes can only be organised in relation to certain specific issues, and federations, confederations and national centres may not call a 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 . In the public services, the law provides for extensive minimum service minimum service The operations needed in a public or private establishment during a strike, normally to avoid compromising the life or basic needs of the population or causing irreversible damages.

See Guide to the ITUC international trade union rights framework and also stipulates that compulsory arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.

See conciliation, mediation can be imposed. For services that are deemed essential, the government can requisition requisition To issue back-to-work orders. at least 50% of the employees. Finally, strikes are prohibited for employees governed by the Panama Canal Authority, 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 and in new enterprises.

Additional information regarding the legislation
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 3,500,000
Capital: Panama

reported violations - 2012

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

In practice

No protection for domestic workers: Domestic workers – the majority of whom are women, as well as an increasing number of children - have no protection at all. Nearly 100,000 people in the sector have absolutely no labour rights, they are the victims of ill-treatment and abuse at the hands of their employers and in some cases work up to 15 hours a day in sub-human conditions. Many of these workers come from remote communities, they have no social security and earn poverty wages, far below the minimum wage. Nor do they have a trade union to represent them. There is a high level of informal employment in the sector, and child labour, as well as discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, gender and social origin.
Workers’ rights eroded: The steady erosion of workers’ rights has resulted in working days that exceed the eight hour day, unpaid overtime and the lack of regulation over the contract labour used by some employers to avoid their employment responsibilities.
Persecution at the Social Security Fund: In institutions such as the Social Security Fund, a regime of terror and persecution against workers’ leaders has been established. Workers’ leaders Gabriel Pascual and Juan Samaniego were dismissed for opposing management’s attempts to bankrupt the institution and thereby justify its privatisation.
The persecution of teachers: A campaign of persecution has been carried out in the education sector against teachers’ leaders, with the dismissal of several teachers’ representatives. Teachers’ organisations opposed planned changes to the curriculum, calling instead for realistic solutions to the deplorable state of colleges.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 3,500,000
Capital: Panama

reported violations - 2012

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher

Violations

Freedom of association violations: The Ministry of Labour and Manpower Development (MITRADEL) has issued judgements against workers in the case of many companies and projects by local employers and foreign investors, allowing for serious violations of collective agreements and the 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 , fostering yellow unions that undermine collective agreements, reduce wages and worsen working conditions, entailing greater occupational risks, resulting in a higher number of deaths and accidents at the workplace.
Labour Ministry refuses to grant legal personality: Documentation was submitted to the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Development (MITRADEL) on 18 May 2009 for the formation of the Union of Stevedores, Verifiers and Operators of the Balboa and Cristóbal Ports (SITEVOP-BALCRIS), with a formal request for its registration as a legal personality. After nearly two years of foot dragging by the Ministry, it decided on 14 April 2011 to turn down the application for legal personality. A request to review the decision was submitted the same day. A final ruling on 26 April upheld the initial decision in its entirety.
Dismissed for creating a union: On 25 April 2011, 30 workers from the Panama Gaming & Services (CIRSA) de Panama S.A. employees’ union presented documentation to the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Development (MITRADEL) with a view to officially creating the union. On 30 April three more workers joined the union. On 10 May, the Ministry rejected the application to form a union, arguing that it did not comply with article 385 of the Labour Code, concerning the statement by each of the people that expressed a wish to form the union. The 33 workers who signed the statement saying they wished to form a union were dismissed in May.
Labour Ministry fails to comply with Supreme Court ruling:

Documentation was submitted to the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Development (MITRADEL) on 25 May 2010 with a view to founding the Industrial Waterways Transport and Allied Workers Union of Panama (SITTVAAP). When no reply was received from the authorities, the workers appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice for the guarantee of their constitutional rights.

The Supreme Court ruled in plenary on 26 October 2010 that the union should be certified, and issued an edict upholding that decision on 25 February 2011. By the end of the year MITRADEL had still not complied with the ruling of the Supreme Court. Over one hundred workers have been dismissed with the complicity of MITRADEL since the application for the formation of the union was submitted.

Labour Ministry ignores request for legal personality: Documentation for the formation of the Health Committees Workers’ Union (STCS) was submitted to the Ministry of Labour and Manpower Development (MITRADEL) on 1 August 2006. On 30 June 2008 and 28 January 2011, letters were sent to MITRADEL requesting the certification of the union on the basis of article 356 of the Labour Code. By the end of the year there was still no reply from the Ministry.
ILO Core Conventions Ratified:
29 Forced Labour (1930) 87 Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948) 98 Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949) 100 Equal Remuneration for Work of Equal Value (1951) 105 Abolition of Forced Labour (1957) 111 Discrimination in Employment and Occupation (1958) 138 Minimum Age for Employment (1973) 182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999)
Population: 3,500,000
Capital: Panama

reported violations - 2012

Documented violations - actual number of cases may be higher
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