From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (misc.activism.progressive co-moderator)
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: US TO INVESTIGATE LABOR RIGHTS ABUSES IN GUATEMALA;
Date: 21 Aug 92 23:17:02 GMT
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu


    "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.
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    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 t to
    March 1991 to get the governmenact on applications for legal
    recognition of their union.
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Topic 200       Labor Rights to Be Investigated 
hrcoord apc.labour       4:56 pm  Aug 20, 1992 
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From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord> 
Subject: 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. 
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive