Labor Issues-Maquillas

Legislative Assembly Commission on Labor

According to the President of the Labor Committee of the Legislative Assembly, working conditions in El Salvador have not improved very much because of resistance from the right wing. The minimum wage varies depending on the type of job but for all sectors is less than $200 a month. With an average cost of living of $750 per month for a family of 5, there is no way a family can survive on the minimum.

Although there are laws protecting workers, they have not been implemented. A majority of the people in the cabinet are business people who are protecting their own interests. The Ministry of Labor is in charge of making sure labor laws are followed, but in the past 20 years this hasn't happened as it should. In the maquilla sector collaboration between the inspectors and owners results in a failure to document abuses. Workers who try to form unions are fired and put on black lists.

Another concern is pensions. During the last 30 years, the government has privatized the pension system using Chile's system as a model. But El Salvador doesn't have the developed economy that Chile has, and it has no oil, gas or other natural resources. The pension system works as a savings account, but because of the economy in recent years, pensions haven't been enough to have a comfortable retirement.

For those in the informal sector, the street vendors, there are no protections. They are not covered by minimum wage laws or the pension system nor do they enjoy the health care benefits which other workers have. However, the FMLN platform calls for working with the informal sector to expand the Social Security (health) and pension systems. We hope they succeed.

The Labor Committee President also informed us that although the U. S. government supports labor rights in public, that support is not much in evidence. He said that labor rights are not protected as they should be by the free trade agreement, CAFTA.

As for unions, a very small percentage of private employees have unions. In the public sector there are employee associations, but most don't have the standing of unions.

Maquillas

Later that day we met with a lawyer for the Movimiento de Mujeres-Mélida Anaya Montes (MAM) and 2 maquilla workers. MAM provides training for maquilla workers in 3 areas: gender relations in the household, feminist ethics, and labor law/worker rights issues. Since outside organizations aren't allowed to enter the maquillas, workers need to be able to identify violations of their rights.

To attend meetings or training sessions, women must take off work at great risk. One of the women at this meeting graduated from the training program but was accused of being a guerrilla and was fired. Now she can't get a job in a maquilla but works training other workers.

Since workers have a great fear of being fired, MAM trainers cannot approach them directly. Instead trainers give massages and good smelling lotions to the workers. While giving the massage, they subtly get information regarding working conditions inside the maquillas and let the women know about the training sessions.

Occupational health is a major concern. Many women develop problems with their arms and legs, and extremely bright lights cause skin damage. Because it costs about $1,000 to prosecute a case, and there needs to be more research to provide evidence of the causes of the health issues, not many cases have been denounced. But because of MAM's work, occupational health was debated in the Legislative Assembly.

Owners of the maquillas come from Taiwan, South Korea, the United States and El Salvador. Although working conditions in all maquillas are very poor, there are fewer violations of worker protection laws in the U.S. owned businesses than in the others.

Recently Lida, a South Korean company, closed and 1,700 jobs were lost. When the company refused to pay workers what they were due, the women took control of the machines until the company paid something. The workers only received 50% of what they were owed but wouldn 't have gotten that without the organized protest.

MAM has difficulty getting information regarding what employers report regarding deductions for Social Security (health care). Employers are pocketing the money rather than paying into the systmem for their employees. Then the women can't get health care.

The maquilla workers told us that prior to the Presidential election, employers told workers that if the FMLN was elected, the company would close and the women would lose their jobs. Workers were also told to take a photo of their ballots showing they had voted for ARENA. Employers held daily meetings, sometimes 3 times a day. In these meetings, bosses played on the emotions of the women by telling them to think about their families when they voted. Without jobs, their children would grow up hungry, there would be another war, and/or the company would move if the FMLN won.

At the time of this report, MAM was working on a report of working conditions inside the maquillas. A pulication date of April, 2009 was projected. I gave the lawyer my on the MAM website: www.lasmeridas.org.

In Memory of Oscar Romero

Today, March 24, marks the 29th anniversary of Salvdoran Archbishop Oscar Romero's death. On Saturday afternoon hundreds of people gathered at the monument, El Salvador del Mundo, to listen to music and begin a procession to the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Savior in El Centro where an outside mass was held. Today there was another procession beginning at the chapel where Romero was slain in 1980 and again ending at the Cathedral. To learn more about Romero, watch the film Romero starring Raul Julia. You can purchase it at Amazon.com.

Election Day-- March 15, 2009

The composition of my observer delegation was very interesting. Four of the eight were young women from Quebec whose native language was French. Most were more or less fluent in English and/or Spanish. One was a young Salvadoran-Canadian man who has lived in Quebec for 3 years. His English was very poor but he was able to speak some French. Two more were a husband and wife from Milwaukee. His Spanish was almost fluent while hers was very basic. I was the coordinator of the group, but my Spanish, though much improved, is still not fluent, so I often needed help with translation. The 3 of us from the U.S. speak no French. Thus an eavesdropper might hear English, French and Spanish being spoken within the group at any given moment.

In El Salvdor there may be one or more voting centers in a municipality. Within a voting center there are a number of tables which have their own voting booth and ballot box. For this election since only 2 of the 6 political parties had a candidate, there were 4 people seated at each table (called the JRV or Vote Receiving Board)--2 from ARENA and 2 from the FMLN. They sat in this order at the table: Secretary, President, 2nd Vocal, 1st Vocal. Each person at the table had a specific role. Each party was allowed 1 official Vigilante and Suplentes (substitutes) for the people at the table and the Vigilantes. If 1, or 2 observers as was the case at my table, were added, there wasn't much space left for the voters.

Unlike most voting centers in El Salvador, which are inside schools, the voting center in Chalatenango is set up on the sidewalks of two adjoining streets. You would think that this would allow for more space between voting tables, but that was not the case. It was very difficult for observers to find a place to stand without interfering with the process.

In El Salvador voters are assigned a voting center based on their last names--not on their residence. This means that many voters have to travel very long distances in order to vote. Thus a number of people were unable to reach the centers. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) did provide free transportation in the large urban areas such as San Salvador but not in smaller municipalities such as Chalatenango. Transportation there was provided by the political parties. For this election that was the FMLN (the leftist party) and ARENA (the party of the right). Since ARENA is the party of the wealthy, there were many more buses, taxis, vans and cars bringing ARENA voters than those transporting FMLN voters.

Though Election Day in Chalatenango and in other voting centers was very peaceful, there were a number of observed cases of not following the election laws and of fraud as well as unintentional mistakes. For example, at the table I observed, the Secretary forgot to stamp the unused ballots at the end of voting. While checking through the box of voting materials, the JRV discovered the unused stamp and promptly corrected that mistake. In other municipalities voters were observed taking photos of their ballots which serves as a confirmation that employers had threatened to fire workers who did not show proof of their vote for ARENA. In Chalatenango, the President of the Municipal Voting Board offered a youth, who had forgotten to bring his DUI (official identification document), transportation to retrieve it if the youth would vote for the FMLN.

In the end, it is truly a miracle that the FMLN won this election. Prior to the election ARENA had given food and school supplies to families and make-up kits to young women and offered money to those who would vote for their candidate. Workers in large businesses such as Coca-Cola and the maquillas (garment factories) were told that the factory would close and move to another country if the FMLN won, or they were told to vote for ARENA and show proof of their votes by taking photos of their ballots with their cell phones. The 2 conservative newspapers and TV channels bombarded people with threats that a vote for Funes was a vote for Cesar Chavez of Venzuela and that remittances from the U.S. would end if the FMLN gained the presidency. Fortunately, because of messages from many of you, the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador did make a statement contradicting the latter threat and affirming U.S. neutrality in the election. Funes won this election by more than 2.5 percentage points. How much greater would that margin have been if not for vote buying and intimidation by the opposition?

Guarjila

Our Election Observer Mission delegation arrived in Guarjila, Chalatenango, on Saturday afternoon, March 14, one day before the Presidential election. Guarjila is a community near the Honduran border and is a stronghold of the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front). It is also the home of Radio Sumpul which has a Sister City relationship with WERU radio in Maine.

When we arrived, a blockade of the road into Guarjila from the north was in progress. This blockade had been set up over a week before because of concerns that Hondurans would try to enter the country illegally and vote for the ARENA party candidate. At first members of the community ran the blockade, but they were able to convince the National Civilian Police to take over this task. They informed us that a number of Hondurans without documentation had been denied entry. Their fear was that because ARENA had promised payment for their votes, the Hondurans would attempt to reach their destinations on foot.

Another indication of the community's activism was the formation of a human chain consisting of members of that community as well as those of San Jose Las Flores and Nueva Trinidad to block representatives from the Canadian mining company Au Martinique Silver from entering their communities in 2005.

We met with the Community Council who told the history of the community and of the priest who worked there for many years, Jon Cortina. Most of the residents of the community did not live there before the war, though they did live in the region around Guarjila. The community has fond memories of Fr. Cortina who, during the war, was a voice of opposition like the other Jesuits who were assassinated in the University of Central America on November 16, 1989. The reason Cortina survived is that he was in Guarjila at the time of the assassination. They also spoke of their optimism and hope surrounding the election and their firm belief that Mauricio Funes would win.

Before leaving, we visited the radio station where one of our members made a brief statement about the role of election observers and answered a few questions from the announcer. For more information about Radio Sumpul and its sister station in Maine click on this link: http://www.weru.org/RadioSumpul.html.