Guatemala Mourns Another Trade Union Leader

On October 25, 2009, Guatemalan trade union leader Víctor Gálvez was gunned down as he was leaving work. Gálvez was a community leader and a member of the natural resources protection and resistance front, FRENA, affiliated to the national front for the defense of public services and natural resources, FNL, which is part of the Guatemalan labor, indigenous and campesino movement, Movimiento Sindical Indígena y Campesino Guatemalteco (MSICG). MSICG and members of the international trade union movement strongly condemn the assassination of yet another union leader in Guatemala.

Earlier this year, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) cited Guatemala as the second most dangerous place to be a trade union member in Latin America. The situation in Guatemala has worsened since the passing of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement with over forty labor and campesino activists murdered in the past few years. The ITUC’s 2008 Annual Survey documented nine trade unionists murdered in 2008 with virtually no one arrested and prosecuted in these cases.

Gálvez was a well-respected unionist who led the efforts against labor violations by the companies DEOCSA and DEORSA, subsidiaries of the Spanish multinational Union FENOSA. In June 2009, along with other workers, Gálvez was beaten and threatened for demonstrating outside the national electricity institute, INDE, while he was promoting a proposal for reform in the state’s electricity laws accommodating the communities’ struggles during the economic crisis.

Until now, the Guatemalan government has been unresponsive and ineffective in addressing violence and impunity against trade unionists. Gálvez’s murder follows the July 16 review of the first CAFTA labor complaint filed by the AFL-CIO and five Guatemalan trade unions. The complaint uses several case studies to document illegal firings, failure to bargain in good faith, health and safety violations, and violence against trade unionists. As predicted, CAFTA's labor provisions have proven ineffective in protecting worker rights. The labor complaint is still under review by the U.S. government.

Join the international trade union movement in condemning the assassination of union leaders like Víctor Gálvez and urge the Guatemalan Embassy to take appropriate steps in impeding violence against those who speak out against injustice!

For more information on the Guatemala CAFTA labor complaint, read our Fall 2009 newsletter article: Guatemala Complaint Exposes CAFTA Labor "Protections" (p.6)