Five workers were beaten, four of them women. One of the injured women, who was eight months pregnant, has been hospitalized. An international observer who was present at the scene was detained for interrogation. The majority of the Duro workers are now camped out in front of the Rio Bravo City Hall, demanding that their fellow workers be released and their union recognized. Among the ill-founded charges which Duro management is pursuing, the most serious may be kidnapping, based on the contention that security guards and the plant manager were inside the plant when workers hung strike banners on the gates of the plant.
Independent reports indicate unsafe and miserable working conditions.
Workers were applying glue without protective equipment or ventilation within the manufacturing facility. The rate of miscarriages among female workers was high. More than a dozen workers have lost fingers from machinery lacking adequate protective guards. The workers are insisting on their constitutionally guaranteed right to a union. They are also demanding safe working conditions, freedom from compulsory overtime and to be safe from emotional abuse, threats, acts of violence and sexual harassment.