Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03GUATEMALA2586
2003-10-07 17:15:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Guatemala
Cable title:  

GUATEMALA LABOR/TIP UPDATE #6-2003

Tags:  ELAB PGOV PHUM GT 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUATEMALA 002586 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC (C. ROE) AND DRL/IL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA LABOR/TIP UPDATE #6-2003


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUATEMALA 002586

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC (C. ROE) AND DRL/IL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM GT
SUBJECT: GUATEMALA LABOR/TIP UPDATE #6-2003



1. Summary: Following is an update of significant recent
developments in the labor sector and trafficking in persons.
Topics include:

-- GOG to Attend GSP Hearing

-- Progress in Monzon Lima Murder Investigation?

-- MOL Willing to Combat "Blacklisting"

-- Ambassador to Speak at Labor Justice Forum

-- Pending Legislative Reforms Status Update

-- MOL Proposes Maquila Pact: Rejected

-- TIP - DCM Preparatory Bilateral

-- TIP - Nine Stolen Babies Returned from Costa Rica

-- TIP - GOG Brothel Raids Find no TIP Victims

End Summary.

GOG to Attend GSP Hearing
--------------


2. (SBU) On September 25 LabAtt attended a meeting of GOG's
"Inter-institutional Labor Working Group," comprised of
representatives of the Labor, Economy, and Foreign Affairs
ministries; the Attorney General's Office and the judiciary
to encourage the GOG to participate in the upcoming GSP
hearings and to provide a substantive official response to
the pending GSP petitions. Minster of Labor Victor Moreira
said Guatemalan Ambassador to Washington Antonio Arenales
will attend the Oct. 7 GSP Public Hearing at USTR. The GOG
is considering responding to the petitions at three levels,
he said: 1) to report and correct issues of fact, 2) to
report new developments (he cited the Choi Shin case as an
example) and, 3) where structural problems are acknowledged,
to propose goals and indicators to be achieved and monitored
by the Embassy.


3. (SBU) LabAtt told the group that while we have noted some
advances, the USG continues to be concerned about unresolved
cases of violence against trade unionists, which
distinguishes Guatemala from its neighbors and contributed to
USTR's decision to review the petitions. The Special
Prosecutor for Crimes Against Trade Unionists reported that
he is offering protection to a key witness in the Monzon Lima
murder case and hopes to use that witness to charge the main
suspect in the case (see below). LabAtt suggested that the
GOG provide details on this case in its report to USTR and
requested that the GOG include information about results of
the Guzman Lanuza murder case (where the transfer of the case
to another Special Prosecutor resulted in an arrest of the

main suspect). Cortez said he would consult with his
colleagues and do so.


4. (SBU) LabAtt also expressed concern about delays in the
labor justice system, and the need to reinstate workers
illegally fired for unionization activities. Supreme Court
Magistrate Otto Marroquin described efforts by the judiciary
to resolve labor cases but noted limitations on making labor
court reinstallation decisions effective.

Progress in Monzon Lima Murder Investigation?
--------------


5. (SBU) On October 1, Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against
Trade Unionists, Marco Antonio Cortez Sis, told LabAtt that a
key witness implicating the intellectual author of the June
22, 2000 murder of Oswaldo Monzon Lima, General Secretary of
the Gas Distributors Transportation Union, had accepted the
Public Ministry's offer of witness protection. Cortez said
an arrest of the prime suspect in the case, Mario Roberto
Ortiz Barranco, could take place within the month. (Comment:
the arrest of Ortiz would be a major milestone for the
Special Prosecutor, who has been largely ineffective to date.
End Comment.)

MOL Willing to Combat "Blacklisting"
--------------


6. (SBU) On September 30, LabAtt accompanied two ex-DYMEL
workers to meet with Labor Vice Minister Antonio Monzon.
Miguel Angel Rivera and Wilson Pineda, both qualified
welders, described their own efforts and those of other union
members in the DYMEL dispute to find jobs in the construction
industry. Those efforts have been largely thwarted by the
existence of an internet-based blacklist of the 71 unionized
ex-DYMEL workers. (Note: some ex-DYMEL workers have found
jobs, but members of the union's executive board, including
Rivera and Willy Hernandez, have had a tougher time finding
work, and when they are contracted, they have been fired
without explanation after a day or two. LabAtt expressed
concern that this form of discrimination, if proven, violates
fundamental labor rights. Monzon accepted the workers'
complaint, and called together his staff to investigate.
(Comment: One of the firms implicated in the blacklisting is
PCCS, a subcontractor to Duke Energy. LabAtt had alerted
Duke to these allegations and provided the names of workers
contracted and dismissed; Duke's representative promised to
look into the case. End Comment.)

Ambassador to Speak at Labor Justice Forum
--------------

7. (U) The Ambassador has accepted an invitation from the
National Sub-Commission to Strengthen the Labor Justice
System to speak at a public event on October 8 marking
publication of the sub-commission's proceedings. Composed of
representatives of the GOG, the judiciary, unions, academics,
and the private sector, the sub-commission is a rare example
of consensus building in a highly polarized society. We hope
it will provide a forum intent on making consensus-based
reforms to the administration of the labor justice system,
which is clogged and slow. In the absence of consensus
within this group on the Executive's proposed procedural code
reform, which is pending in Congress, the emphasis has
shifted to making non-legislative changes to improve the
labor justice system.

Pending Legislative Reforms Status Update
--------------


8. (SBU) Labor Vice Minister Antonio Monzon claimed on
September 30 that the FRG leadership in Congress will act on
pending labor reforms when it can achieve a quorum, which is
difficult during this election campaign period. The reforms,
submitted in May as four separate bills, have been combined
into one, which includes articles which:

-- prohibit child labor for children under the age of 14 and
fine (not less than $2500) employers who violate this
prohibition,

-- define and prohibit the worst forms of child labor, and
define the conditions of legal labor by minors under age 18,

-- define and require an administrative fine for sexual
harassment,

-- mandate the formation of a joint management-worker
committee to investigate allegations of sexual harassment in
the workplace, to determine measures to immediately stop the
harassment,

-- require employers who fire workers without cause to give
the fired worker the option of reinstallation or a severance
payment,

-- require employers to pay a worker who quits an amount
equivalent to what that worker would received if fired
without cause,

-- close the exemption on rights and benefits of domestic
workers,

-- allow complainants to request that a labor court judge
embargo employer assets at the outset of hearings,

- mandate an oral hearing on cases within two months of a
complaint,

-- require employers of foreign workers to pay a monetary
contribution for training Guatemalans.


9. (SBU) Guido Ricci, a labor lawyer for the main employers
association (CACIF),told LabAtt on October 1 that the
private sector originally decided not to oppose the pending
labor reforms, but now objects to giving workers fired
without cause the right to reinstallation in lieu of
severance benefits. This provision (inserted by the
government to mollify union critics who worried universal
severance would make it easier for employers to lay off
workers) would restrict employers' rights to control the size
of their labor force. With the prospect of a CAFTA which
might prohibit any changes to labor legislation that limit
labor rights, employers cannot risk having Congress approve
this provision, he said. Nevertheless, CACIF has not decided
how to react publicly should the Congress take up the new
draft bill. (Note: Ricci implied that CACIF did not want to
be lured into public rejection of a bill, which the FRG would
argue promotes labor rights, during the election campaign
period. End Note.)
MOL Proposes Maquila Labor Pact
--------------


10. (SBU) Minister of Labor Moreira told LabAtt that
Guatemalan labor law permits industry-wide collective
bargaining agreements to be negotiated with unions
representing 2/3 of all unionized workers in that sector.
(Note: the requirement to organize an industrial union is
different: 50% plus one of all workers in the sector. End
Note.) Moreira said he intended to propose that VESTEX, the
maquila employer association, which represents over 2/3 of
the companies in that sector, enter into voluntary
negotiations with the Choi Shin/Cimatextiles unions to
achieve such a pact, which are the only unions which
currently exist in the sector. Vice Labor Minister Monzon
subsequently told LabAtt that the Minister had made the
proposal to VESTEX, and it was rejected. Comment: This was
vintage Moreira--audacious and seemingly intended to provoke
the rejection of the private sector. End Comment.

TIP - DCM Preparatory Bilateral
--------------


11. (SBU) On October 1, the DCM and LabAtt attended a
meeting with MFA bilateral affairs officers and Mario Rene
Cifuentes, the Foreign Minister's advisor on security issues,
to request a meeting of the bilateral working group on
trafficking in persons proposed in July by the GOG.
Cifuentes offered to produce a draft "matrix" of benchmark
goals that both governments share. The DCM provided text of
President Bush's UNGA speech and urged the GOG to make
progress developing cases against traffickers. The MFA
officers requested a tri-lateral meeting of immigration
officials from the US, Mexico and Guatemala to share ideas
about border controls, with a possible emphasis on
trafficking in persons. They also requested a USG
participant to give a briefing on TIP at an upcoming
(unscheduled) series of seminars it will offer its own staff
on the broad theme of migration. The DCM said we would look
forward to reviewing the matrix next week.

TIP - Nine Stolen Babies Returned to Guatemala
-------------- -


12. (U) Press reported the repatriation of nine babies
allegedly destined for illegal adoption in Costa Rica for up
to $80,000 each. A Guatemalan woman and Carlos Hernan
Robles, a Costa Rican banker, were allegedly detained by
Costa Rican authorities in the scheme.

TIP - GOG Brothel Raids Find no TIP Victims
--------------


13. (SBU) DHS officer met in September with the Oscar
Contreras, the Director General of Immigration, to request
cooperation to investigate cases of TIP. Contreras agreed to
do so, and coordinated a raid on brothels with the national
police and Public Ministry on September 10. The 25 women,
mostly Salvadoran and Honduran, denied to DHS interviewers
that they were victims of TIP (i.e. forced or tricked into
prostitution). DCM will meet with Contreras on October 7 to
request further efforts to combat TIP.
HAMILTON