Guatemala accused in CAFTA labor complaint
http://www.latimes.com.nyud.net:8090/media/photo/2008-04/38190775.jpgGroups allege that the government's failure to uphold its own laws protecting workers has led to intimidation and even killings of trade unionists.
By Marla Dickerson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 24, 2008
MEXICO CITY -- Guatemalan and U.S. labor groups filed a complaint Wednesday with the U.S. Department of Labor alleging that Guatemala had failed to uphold its own labor laws as required under the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
The complaint alleges that, despite provisions in the pact requiring workers' rights to be protected, Guatemalan trade unionists have been threatened, fired and even assassinated -- including a union official who was shot dead in front of his young children last year. The groups called on the Bush administration to initiate dispute settlement proceedings, which could result in fines of as much as $15 million annually against the Guatemalan government.
The action is the first of its kind under CAFTA, a trade deal whose members are the United States, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. But the complaint underscores a long-standing criticism of U.S. trade policy by American unions, which contend that labor protections in trade agreements are largely meaningless because they aren't enforced.
Human rights groups and unions have lodged nearly two dozen complaints with U.S. authorities over labor issues in trade pacts since 1994. None has resulted in sanctions or fines against trading partners, according to Thea Lee, policy director of the AFL-CIO, which filed Wednesday's complaint with six Guatemalan unions.
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