Source: https://survey.ituc-csi.org/Panama.html?lang=en
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 09:08:33+00:00

Document:
The ITUC affiliates in Panama are the Confederación de Trabajadores de la República de Panamá (CTRP), the Confederación Nacional de Unidad Sindical Independiente (CONUSI) and the Convergencia Sindical (CS).
The Labour Code establishes that at least 40 workers are needed to establish a workers' organisation at the enterprise level (Labour Code, Art. 344, as amended by Art. 41 of Law No. 44 of 1995). To establish an organisation of public servants the number of workers required is 50, pursuant to the Civil Service Act (Law No. 9 on the Civil Service, Art. 177).
In the public sector, the law stipulates that there may not be more than one association in an institution and that associations may have provincial or regional branches, but not more than one branch per province (Law No. 9 on the Civil Service, as amended by Law No. 43 of 31 July 2009, Art, 174).
The Labour Code establishes, both for public and private workers, the obligation to pay solidarity dues in view of the benefits derived from collective bargaining (Labour Code, Art. 405).
The Constitution establishes that all the members of a trade union executive body must be Panamanian nationals (Political Constitution of the Republic of Panama, Art. 64).
The Labour Code establishes that a company must be closed in the event of a strike and that non-striking workers should not be allowed access (Labour Code, Art. 452.2, 493.4 and 494).
The Civil Service Act establishes that public sector workers only have the right to organise within associations and cannot form trade unions (Law No. 9 on the Civil Service, as amended by Law No. 43 of 31 July 2009, Art, 179).
The Labour Code establishes that the number of parties in the negotiation should be between two and five (Labour Code, Art. 427).
Public servants, including municipal employees and those working for decentralised institutions, do not have this right (Law No. 9 on the Civil Service).
In the maritime sector, the legislation establishes that the conclusion of collective bargaining agreements is optional, which leads, in practice, to employers refusing to negotiate collective bargaining proposals (Art. 75 of Decree Law No. 8 of 26 February 1998).
For a strike to be legal, the Labour Code establishes that a majority of workers in the enterprise, business or establishment concerned must vote in its favour. When it is called by a sectoral union, it must be approved at a General Meeting and by at least 60 per cent of the vote (Labour Code, Art. 476 and 477).
The General or Regional Directorate of Labour can order compulsory arbitration in the case of collective conflicts in companies providing public services.
Strikes can only be called to demand an improvement in working conditions, in relation to a collective agreement or in protest at the repeated violation of legal rights. Strikes cannot be called to protest about government policy, to demand an increase in the minimum wage or to demand union recognition (Labour Code, Art. 480).
Federations, confederations and national centres may not call a strike (Labour Code, Art. 476 and 477).
The Labour Code authorises the government to put an end to strikes in public sector companies by referring the dispute to compulsory arbitration (Labour Code, Art. 486 and 452).
The Labour Code establishes that once a strike is started, the General or Regional Labour Directorate or Inspectorate shall immediately order the police authorities to duly protect persons and property (Labour Code, Art. 493, para 1).
In the case of a strike at a public service company, the law establishes the requirement to provide minimum services of up to 30 per cent of the total workforce in the company, establishment or business in question or, in the case of a sector-wide strike, 30 per cent of the workers in the same occupation or trade within each company, establishment or business. This requirement may also be applied to public air and maritime passenger transport services (Labour Code, Art. 487; Executive Order No. 25 of June 2009, which establishes, in Article 2, that the Labour Code provisions concerning strikes in public services shall apply to public air and maritime passenger transport services). The Civil Service Act also provides, for the provision of public services, that no less than 25 per cent of the staff usually working must be maintained in administrative units. This percentage can be raised to 50 per cent in the case of essential public services, such as the supply of food, transport, postal and telegraph services, civil and public registry, the supply of water, electricity, telecommunications, as well as bodies collecting public revenues of any kind, be they national or municipal, air traffic control and fire fighting (Law No. 9 on the Civil Service, as amended by Law 43 of 31 July 2009, Art. 185).
The law governing the autonomous Panama Canal Authority prohibits the right to strike for its employees (Law No. 19 of 11 June 1997 concerning the Panama Canal Authority).
In February 2016, Panamanian transport workers organised within the Cámara Nacional de Transporte de Carga de Panamá (CANATRACA) and the Sindicato de Camioneros de Chiriquí (SICACHI) staged protests and roadblocks on the border between Panama and Costa Rica, to press the government for solutions to the problems in the sector, which are placing the workers of the region at a very high risk. The hauliers are not provided with safe conditions in which to do their work. They are calling for suitable rest areas to be built as well as the implementation of regulations that effectively prevent the abuses and malpractice in trade relations on the border. After three days of roadblocks and millions in losses, the government opened a dialogue to look for solutions.
DHL has, for years, been pursuing a policy of labour and trade union rights violations. A report published in March 2016 by the trade unions representing DHL workers in Panamá, Colombia and Chile, following the acceptance of a complaint filed by ITF and UNI Global Union with the OECD in 2013, revealed acts of intimidation, inadequate safety standards, recurrent accidents at work, a lack of training, arbitrary management, clientelism, non-respect for fundamental rights and labour rights, insults, frame-ups and aggressive and systematic union-busting.
On 27 April 2016, an arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.
See conciliation, mediation tribunal issued a decision putting an end to the labour dispute labour dispute See industrial dispute between Cervecería Nacional S.A. (CNSA), owned by SABMiller, and the two trade unions at the company – Sindicato Industrial de Trabajadores de la Fabricación y Comercialización de Refrescos, Bebidas, Gaseosas, Cervezas, Licores y Similares (Sitrafcorebgascelis), and Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Industria Cervecera de Panamá (STICP). On 1 June 2015, the trade unions had initiated joint collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
, uniting to sign a single collective agreement. The company rejected this alliance, reacting strongly to the trade unions’ aspirations and refused to negotiate. Following an 18-day strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike , the Labour Ministry ordered the establishment of an arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.
See conciliation, mediation tribunal, which finally recognised the agreement covering the workers’ main demands.
In October 2016, workers at the Donoso, Minera Panamá, copper mine, affiliated to the Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de la Construcción y Similares (Suntracs), staged a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike in protest at pressure from the company to alter their working conditions by increasing working hours and cutting wages and benefits. The company persisted with its refusal to allow access to the trade union leaders, who were supporting the protest. The company hired foreign workers in large numbers, establishing unequal pay and conditions, violating, in some instances, minimum levels of protection and, in others, providing them with more favourable terms than the unionised workers. The striking workers finally secured an agreement following the intervention of the Labour Ministry.
In March 2015, workers at the Cobre Panamá mine declared a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike over the systematic labour rights violations and the multiple forms of exploitation at the mine. Saúl Méndez, general secretary of the Sindicato Único de Trabajadores de la Construcción y Similares (SUNTRACS), told the press that the stoppage was a result of what he described as the “regime of terror” established by the company that owns the mine.
The workers were demanding respect for their most basic rights, including the payment of overtime, night shifts and work on Sundays, which are reflected in their wages, as well as adequate health care.
They were also protesting the illegal employment of over a thousand foreign workers as general labourers, replacing local workers. The company had returned to the practice of employing foreign labour illegally, despite having recently been instructed by the Labour and Manpower Development Ministry (MITRADEL) to dismiss some 300 foreigners who did not meet the migration rules regarding employment, following an inspection at the site.
The company, for its part, declared the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike illegal, alleging it had not been formally notified.
On 1 June 2015, collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
negotiations were tabled at the Labour Ministry between Cervecería Nacional SA – SABMiller and the trade unions SITRAFCOREBGASCELIS and STICP. Both organisations, which between them represent over 80 per cent of the Cervecería Nacional workers, decided to form a strategic alliance to jointly negotiate and sign the new agreement.
The company categorically rejected this move and remained firm in its unyielding position, refusing to sign a new collective agreement with both unions and insisting on negotiating solely with the majority union.
Following several failed meetings, during which no progress was made and not a single clause was signed, the trade unions considered the arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.
See conciliation, mediation process closed and called a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike for 10 July 2015.
In the run-up to the planned strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike , the management put pressure on the workers to renounce their collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
rights and demands. They also prevented a number of active trade union leaders from accessing workplaces and used the strategy of withholding wages to force workers to abandon the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike plans.
At the beginning of August 2015, workers belonging to the Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de la Aviación Civil y Similares (SIELAS), affiliated to the ITF, demonstrated in front of the DHL offices in Panama City to denounce the company’s anti-union practices and to call for respect for trade union rights and the renewal of collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
negotiations, which had been suspended for six months.
SIELAS had previously presented a collective bargaining collective bargaining The process of negotiating mutually acceptable terms and conditions of employment as well as regulating industrial relations between one or more workers’ representatives, trade unions, or trade union centres on the one hand and an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers’ organisations on the other.
proposal to the Labour Ministry, including123 clauses that would benefit over 240 DHL employees. The proposal was accepted and negotiations began. However, in January 2015, the Supreme Court of Justice accepted an appeal by DHL, suspending the negotiations on the grounds that SIELAS has no connection with the employment activities of DHL workers. The trade union filed a counterclaim, insisting that the workers’ link with the trade union is legitimate, by reason of the air operations carried out by DHL.
Panama Canal workers have denounced that they have not been trained for the passage of vessels along the new expanded lane, which represents a problem for them and their work. The workers, gathered in six trade unions, also referred to the labour problems with the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) during the closing session of an international seminar of maritime inspectors organised by the International Transport Federation (ITF).
The general secretary of the Unión de Prácticos del Canal de Panamá, Rainiero Salas, pointed out that the canal’s expansion implies major changes and yet the workers have not been involved in any information, consultation process, or training. He added that the trade unions, with their limited funds, have had to pay for their members’ training because “neither the ACP nor the Canal are providing any”.
The Canal workers have also denounced that the administration of the interoceanic waterway disregards the demands and aspirations for better pay and working conditions presented by the trade unions in collective negotiations. Representatives of the six Canal workers’ trade unions handed over a letter for President Juan Carlos Varela to officials from the Panamanian President’s Office, outlining their concerns, including concerns over the safety of the present canal and the expanded canal, the exclusion of workers from operational procedures, the lack of operational training for the new lane, the appalling state of the tugboats, and collective agreements that fail to recognise labour rights.
According to the unions, the Supreme Court and its judges are politicising their rulings, as illustrated by the fact that they generally rule against workers and trade unions and the few rulings in favour of the unions are ineffectual, as they are not implemented and no action is taken when court orders are disobeyed.
The investigations into the murders of trade union leaders in 2007 and 2008, crimes that continued to go unpunished at the end of 2015, are emblematic of delayed justice.
During the course of 2015, unionised workers at Mi Bus, a company providing public transport in Panama City and San Miguelito, staged at least three strikes without reaching an agreement, having been forced to end their action following intimidation or threats from the government or the imposition of compulsory arbitration arbitration A means of resolving disputes outside the courts through the involvement of a neutral third party, which can either be a single arbitrator or an arbitration board. In non-binding arbitration, the disputing parties are free to reject the third party’s recommendation, whilst in binding arbitration they are bound by its decision. Compulsory arbitration denotes the process where arbitration is not voluntarily entered into by the parties, but is prescribed by law or decided by the authorities.
See conciliation, mediation , on the grounds that transport is an essential service.
In response to the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike action, the workplaces were occupied, striking trade union leaders were arrested, without warrants, and the strikers were replaced by public servants and members of the national police, who stood in as drivers and provided passenger transport services, undermining the effectiveness of the stoppages.
Some of the workers and union leaders who took part in the strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike were dismissed or forced, in some cases, to sign a mutual agreement terminating the employment relationship.
In January 2016, the Chinese-owned Panama Ports Company, which operates in the Port of Balboa, unfairly dismissed, without the Labour Ministry’s authorisation, some 300 workers, all of whom were permanent employees, including many who had been with the company for over 10 years. According to the workers, their dismissal was motivated by the fact that they belonged to class-based trade unions and had taken part in a strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
On the night of 11 February, the workers partially stopped operations at two docks, in protest at the unfair dismissals. Police units intervened to disperse the demonstrators, arresting three workers, members of Rescate Sindical, who were released shortly afterwards, thanks to pressure from their colleagues, according to Ulises Arroyo, defence secretary of the Sindicato Industrial de Trabajadores del Transporte por Vías Acuáticas y Afines de Panamá (SITRAVAAP).
The Panama Canal workers are demanding better working conditions but cannot exercise the right to strike strike The most common form of industrial action, a strike is a concerted stoppage of work by employees for a limited period of time. Can assume a wide variety of forms.
See general strike, intermittent strike, rotating strike, sit-down strike, sympathy strike, wildcat strike given that the Constitutional Court denied them this right in 2010, leaving them with virtually no trade union and labour rights in practice. .
On 25 July 2014, the Labour Minister withdrew the charges against nine trade union leaders. The charges had been brought by the previous Labour Minister in 2012 for alleged misappropriation of funds granted by the state for trade union capacity building. As at March 2015, the legal proceedings had been halted but the restrictive and precautionary measures placed on the union leaders remained in force, without the case being settled by the judicial system, despite the procedures undertaken by the ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights in this respect and the withdrawal of the charges.
In November 2014, the trade union SITIESPA filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) against the state of Panama regarding the application of criteria in the dismissal of several thousand workers from the Instituto de Recursos Hidráulicos y Electrificación (IRHE), for which the method of calculating the indemnities owed was subsequently declared invalid, based on its illegality, by the Third Chamber of Justice of Panama. The trade union has, since then, appealed on numerous occasions to the Supreme Court to order the Panamanian state to compensate the former IRHE worker for damages caused as a result of this illegal method of calculation. In response to these demands, the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice ruled, on two occasions, that the Panamanian state was liable to pay damages to the workers, but the Panamanian state was subsequently absolved during a third court proceeding. It is hoped that the Commission will settle the case definitively following on from this disparate decision, and that the violations will be addressed.
In the Colon free trade zone, there has been a marked increase in the practices of hiring through private firms and employment agencies and subcontracting, which prevent workers from organising organising The process of forming or joining a trade union, or inducing other workers to form or join one. due to the lack of job security or their status as self-employed workers.
Protests in October 2012 against a law to sell land within the Colón Free Zone resulted in the death of at least three people, including a young boy. The community was deeply worried that the sale would result in the loss of an important source of income for the area. Residents formed a united front, including various community groups and trade unions. The government responded by unleashing a brutal wave of repression resulting in the deaths. In solidarity, trade unions demonstrated across the country. Again, the government responded by hiring thugs to break up the protest and vandalise buildings. Several trade unionists were arrested. The law was eventually repealed.
In violation of a collective agreement, the banana producer, Grupo San Bosco closed down two large plantations, falsely claiming bankruptcy, leaving more than 70 workers affiliated to the Sindicato Industrial de Trabajadores de Productores Bananeros Independientes (SITRAPBI) out of work.
In 2012, following protests by workers worldwide about the presence of President Ricardo Martinelli at the 101th ILO International Labour Organization A tripartite United Nations (UN) agency established in 1919 to promote working and living conditions. The main international body charged with developing and overseeing international labour standards.
See tripartism, ITUC Guide to international trade union rights Conference, a warrant was issued for the investigation of the three Panamanian union leaders present at the Conference. During the judicial process, the government leaked several accusations against the leaders to the press in violation of due process rights.
Domestic workers – the majority of whom are women, as well as an increasing number of children - have no protection at all. Nearly 100,000 people in the sector have absolutely no labour rights, they are the victims of ill-treatment and abuse at the hands of their employers and in some cases work up to 15 hours a day in sub-human conditions. Many of these workers come from remote communities, they have no social security and earn poverty wages, far below the minimum wage. Nor do they have a trade union to represent them. There is a high level of informal employment in the sector, and child labour, as well as discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, gender and social origin.
In May, the airline staff union SIELAS (Empleados de Líneas Aéreas y Similares de la República de Panamá) managed to seal the negotiation of the collective agreement between SIELAS and DHL Aéreo Expreso S.A, which constitutes a major trade union breakthrough, this being the first collective agreement secured with DHL in the region.
Companies continue to encourage the forming of yellow unions alongside existing unions with which they have already signed collective agreements, as a way of neutralising bona fide trade unions and negotiating inferior working conditions, gradually undermining and eliminating workers’ rights.
Another strategy to avoid complying with collective agreements is to dismiss unionised workers and hire foreign workers under inferior terms and conditions.

References: Art. 344
 Art. 41
 Art. 177
 Art. 405
 Art. 64
 Art. 452
 Art. 427
 Art. 476
 Art. 480
 Art. 476
 Art. 486
 Art. 493
 Art. 487
 Art. 185