Guatemala Complaint Exposes CAFTA Labor "Protections"

The experience of Guatemalan and U.S. labor unions with the first labor complaint filed under the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) has amply demonstrated CAFTA’s inability to provide effective protections for worker rights.  The very limited actions taken by the Guatemalan government in response to the complaint illustrates that CAFTA’s penalties for failing to address labor rights violations, including murder, are not feared, especially by employers.      

The Obama Administration has been reluctant to rigorously apply the CAFTA process.  Instead, it has pointed to meager measures by the Guatemalan government as a justification for delay, and has even introduced new steps in the process that lengthens the procedure.

The complaint was filed in April 2008 by the AFL-CIO and six Guatemalan trade unions, and uses several case studies to document illegal firings, failure to bargain in good faith, health and safety violations, and violence against trade unionists.  In January 2009, the Bush administration issued a review of the complaint, essentially backing the substance of the complaint, but giving the Guatemalan government another six months to address violations.

On July 10, forty members of the House signed a U.S. congressional letter to Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom, initiated by Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-CA, urging President Colom to address worker rights violations and violence against trade unionists.  (As of mid-September, President Colom had not responded to the Hill letter.)

On July 16, the Obama administration, however, announced the Guatemalan government had made enough progress to extend the review process for an additional period of time in which “pre-consultations” with the Guatemalan government would take place.  Under CAFTA, if a government fails to adhere to its labor provisions, the U.S. should  request formal ministerial consultations with Guatemala.  By entering into “pre-consultations” with the Guatemalan government, the U.S. is adding new steps to the complaint process that are not provided for in CAFTA.  

AFL-CIO Visit Sparks Some Response

On August 10-11, 2009, the AFL-CIO met  in Guatemala with workers, from the trade unions who filed the labor complaint to assess the steps allegedly taken by the government.  The unions reported that many of illegally-fired workers who have been reinstated in response to the complaint have faced retaliation and new violations of labor laws.  Back pay, and reinstatement orders for other workers, had not been followed.  Some workers had been violently intimidated and threatened.  And the head of the Sitrabi banana union, whose brother was murdered in September 2007, and other union leaders, have not been provided requested security despite receiving new life-threatening phone calls.

Following AFL-CIO reports from their field investigation, the U.S. government met with the Guatemalan Ministry of Labor, which then undertook new but seriously flawed inspections.  The AFL-CIO is planning to gather additional evidence of violations this fall to strengthen its case but it is clear that the CAFTA trade leverage is producing very little movement.  

Since CAFTA came into effect, violence against trade unionists in Guatemala has surged. Earlier this year, the International Trade Union Confederation declared Guatemala the second most dangerous country for trade unionists in Latin America, trailing only world-leader Colombia, with impunity near total.