From: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu (Rich Winkel)
Subject: Guatemala: US TO INVESTIGATE LABOR RIGHTS ABUSES
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: PACH
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 23:14:41 GMT

/** reg.guatemala: 81.0 **/
** Topic: Labor Rights to Be Investigated **
** Written  6:15 pm  Aug 19, 1992 by usglep in cdp:reg.guatemala **
US TO INVESTIGATE LABOR RIGHTS ABUSES IN GUATEMALA;
TRADE BENEFITS AT STAKE
 
The U.S. government [U.S. Trade Representative] announced on
August 17 in Washington that for the first time it would investigate
labor rights abuses in Guatemala to determine whether U.S. trade
benefits should be suspended.  Last year Guatemala received duty-
free treatment on $219 million of its approximately $900 million
exports to the U.S. under trade programs that are subject to
worker rights conditions.
 
Washington's action came in response to two petitions filed in June
by U.S. religious, human rights and labor organizations documenting
wide-spread violations of the basic rights of Guatemalan workers.  
 
Petitions have been filed each year for the past six years but none
had been accepted for review and investigation.  The U.S.
government will announce by April 1, 1993 its decision whether to
suspend duty-free trade benefits, to keep the country under review
for a second year or to reject the petitions.  As part of the
investigation, hearings will be held in Washington, probably in
October.
 
"We're very pleased with the U.S. government's action and the great
opportunity it gives for Guatemalan workers.  We trust that over
the next few months the Guatemalan government and business sector
will take the steps necessary to avoid suspension of trade benefits. 
If they respect the internationally-recognized rights of Guatemalan
workers, especially the right to freedom of organization and to a
liveable wage, a cut-off of benefits will not happen," said Stephen
Coats, executive director of the U.S./Guatemala Labor Education
Project, one of the petitioners.  
 
"We are committed to the principle that the price of duty-free
access to U.S. markets must be the freedom of Guatemalan workers
and their unions to exercise their basic rights.  Genuine
development, the goal of these duty-free programs, can occur only
if workers and their unions are able to freely exercise their basic
rights," Coats added.
 
The review could lead to suspension of the duty-free trade status
which Guatemala receives under the Generalized System of
Preferences and the Caribbean Basin Initiative.  GSP is a U.S. trade
program which exempts specific quantities of certain commodities
from developing countries from normal tariffs.  The program is
intended to promote exports from the Third 
World to the U.S. on the theory that exports promote development. 
In order to assure that eligible exports provide broad-based
benefits, a labor rights amendment passed by Congress in 1984 after
lobbying by unions, religious and human rights organizations,
mandates a cutoff of benefits to countries "not taking steps to
afford internationally-recognized worker rights."   The Caribbean
Basin Initiative is subject to identical worker rights conditions.
 
Internationally-recognized labor rights are defined as the right of
association, the right to organize and bargain collectively,
prohibitions on forced or compulsory labor and child labor, and
acceptable conditions of wages, hours and job health and safety. 
Earlier petitions led to a cutoff of GSP benefits for Chile and
Paraguay.
 
The petitions found wide-spread violations in the maquiladora
sector, including the inability of workers to form unions in response
to low wages and abusive conditions.  Both petitions cited the case
of Phillips-Van Heusen, where workers have been trying since
March 1991 to get the government to act on applications for legal
recognition of their union.  The PVH case has received substantial
news coverage in the U.S. as an example of the labor rights
violations in Guatemala.  Ironically, suspension of trade benefits
would not affect apparel, the primary export from the maquiladora
sector, because apparel does not qualify for duty-free treatment. 
(However, suspension of benefits might result in the imposition of
quotas for a small portion of apparel exports, pending a ruling by
USTR.)
 
One petition was filed by the International Labor Rights Education
and Research Fund; the U.S./Guatemala Labor Education Project; the
Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union; the National
Council of Churches, Human Rights Office; the International Union of
Food and Allied Workers; United Electrical Workers (UE);
International Union of Electronics Workers; United Food and
Commercial Workers; the Washington Office on Latin America; and the
International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.  A second petition
was filed by the AFL-CIO.
** End of text from cdp:reg.guatemala **