Supporting Women Workers on International Day on the Elimination of Violence Against Women

USLEAP joins the international community in saying “no to violence against women!”  November 25 marks the International Day on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, in part commemorating the Mirabal sisters who stood up against the injustice suffered during the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.  With the upcoming illegitimate November 29 elections in Honduras, we draw particular attention to the deterioration of respect for women rights under the coup regime.  

In a July interview (audio), Iris Munguia, first secretary of women, Coalition of Latin American Banana Unions (COLSIBA) told USLEAP of the abuses she suffered while attending a protest opposing the coup in Honduras.  Recent reports indicate that between January and October of this year, 325 women died violent deaths. Almost half of the femicide cases this year, along with an alarming number of cases of women sexually harassed and abused in acts of repression, took place during the coup d'etat.

COLSIBA also launched a temporary campaign against Chiquita Brands in September 2009 denouncing the sexual harassment case of trade unionist, Emelina Vasquez.  She was fired in January 2007 after being sexually assaulted by a supervisor in the plantation where she worked. On 8th October, the SITRATERCO union and the Chiquita subsidiary, Tela Railroad Company agreed on the reinstatement of Vasquez and compensation for the period she would have been employed with the company if she had not been dismissed.

In Guatemala, nineteen women plantation worker-leaders were locked in and subjected to intimidation by Labor Ministry officials after they traveled to Guatemala City in November to hold a press conference denouncing abuses of workers' rights in the farms where they work.  As part of the national campaign for decent work organized by the Guatemalan Trade Union, Indigenous Peoples and Small Farmer Movement (MSICG), the women, who produce Chiquita and Del Monte brand bananas, came to the capital to denounce failure by their employers to respect maternity rights and to pay social security contributions giving workers access to the healthcare system.  Thanks to the help of journalists and other workers who were attending the press conference, the women were released.

In a statement released today by the International Trade Union Confederation, ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder states, “Violence against women at work is a serious problem, just as it is in society generally. Trade unions are campaigning on both fronts, to get rid of it in the workplace and in the community.  Inequality and pervasive discrimination against women and girls are at the core of the problem, providing an environment where violence is tolerated or even encouraged.”

In the U.S., over 45% of unionized workers are women.  As more women around the world become active unionists, the struggle for labor rights such equality in wages, maternity rights, and an end to discrimination and sexual harassment could not be stronger.