Warning: Trade union activism may be dangerous to your health

In Greece the most glaring recent example has been the case of Konstantina Kuneva which has been one of the top issues cited by protesters for their actions since the December Uprising began.

Konstantina Kuneva: Some background information

...On December 23, sulphuric acid was thrown at the face of Konstantina Kuneva [ed.'s note: she was also forced to drink it, resulting in severe damage to her esophagus and loss of her vocal chords] as she was returning home from work. Konstantina is in the intensive care ward of Evangelismos hospital suffering serious sight and respiratory system problems.

Who was Konstantina? Why was she attacked?

Konstantina is one among the hundreds of female immigrant workers who have been working for years as cleaners. She is general secretary of the Panattic Union of Cleaners and Domestic Personnel. She is a militant union organizer, well known for her stance against various bosses. Just last week she had a clash with the employer company “OIKOMET” when she demanded for herself and the rest of her colleagues to get paid the whole amount of money of her Christmas bonus. She also denounced illegal procedures in payments. Just a short while ago the same company fired her mother in an act of revenge against her and she got herself an unfavourable transfer to Marousi station. There is also a case of a three-part meeting in the Labour Inspection Office still pending on the 5-1-2009 concerning a denouncement of hers. Situations like these are not at all rare in the field of cleaning and employee lending companies. It’s exactly the opposite.

This is the rule when it comes to cleaning company contractors: delayed contracts, stolen wages, stolen overtime payments, differences between contract assets and what the employee actually gets paid, selection of almost exclusively immigrant male and female workers with green card status (legal residency in Greece ranging from 1 to 5 years – in most cases only 1 year) so they can be held in a state of hostageship, social security benefits that are never attributed. All these under the support of the public sector and enterprises which are aware, incite and support working conditions reminiscent of the middle ages.

OIKOMET in particular, a cleaning company with enterprises all over Greece and owned by Nikitas Oikonomakis who is a member of PASOK (Greek Socialist Party), “officially” employs 800 workers – on the other hand, workers say that their number is at least twice as much and during the last 3 years the turnover amounts to 3000). Illegal procedures on the part of the employer company are on the everyday list. To be more specific, employees sign “blank page contracts” and they are never given a copy of them. They work 6 hours a day but get paid for 4,5 (including stamp) because in this way they appear to be working less than 30 hours per week on paper and the boss is not forced to include them in the “higher stamp category”. Employees get terrorized, they get unfavourable transfers, they get fired and blackmailed into resigning voluntarily (a female employee was threatened by her employer into signing her resignation after being held for 4 hours in a space owned by the company). The boss organised a “yellow” (company) union in order to manipulate employees while he fires and hires people as he wishes, ruling out any prospect of communication inside the workplace or collective action.

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More recent violence against trade union activists:

ITUC condemns murders in April and May of Colombian trade union activists

The International Trade Union Confederation has condemned the murders in April and May of five Colombian trade union activists. The National Union reminds Canadians to email Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff to oppose the proposed Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

Brussels (12 May 2009) - The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has strongly condemned and denounced the murders in April and May of five trade union activists dedicated to improving the lot of workers in Colombia.

The National Union sees the news as reinforcing their opposition to the proposed Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. It is reminding Canadians to send an email to Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and urge him to join the other opposition parties in voting against the deal.

International condemnation

The national, regional and international trade union movements have joined with the three Colombian union confederations, CUT, CGT and CTC, in their unwavering condemnation of the relentless attacks on the Colombian trade union movement, committed in blatant violation of the core ILO Conventions ratified by Colombia. These attacks take the form of intimidation, persecution and threats along with continuous murder of trade union members and leaders for simply trying to defend workers' rights.

These five deadly crimes against the trade union movement take the number of trade unionists assassinated in 2009 to seventeen.

Murders contradict Colombian government claims that situation is improving

Over the last decade, Colombia has seen the murder of 2711 trade union leaders and activists in total. These assassinations seriously call into question the numerous claims by members of the Colombian administration that the violence, murders and stigmatisation suffered by the trade union movement are declining.

In a letter to the Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, the ITUC called on the Colombian authorities to carry out urgent and conclusive investigations to bring those responsible to justice, and thus break the chain of impunity characterising the murders of trade unionists.

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Another Trade Union Leader Assassinated in Venezuela

Recently a pro-Chavez student leader was killed during a demonstration, eight police officers have been arrested in that incident. In the past year there has been a spat of trade union assassinations in Venezuela carried out by right-wing guns for hires. The same sort of thing has been happening in Colombia and across the Americas for decades. It’s important to take note that the deaths of socialist activists gets no mention in the mainstream press, but any incident in Venezuela that reflects poorly on progressive forces are made to undermine the Chavez regime. Class polarization and struggle is reaching its apex in Venezuela. The following months will be defining ones for the Bolivarian Revolution. ~ ED

Mérida, May 6th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -

Argenis Vasquez, a union leader in a Toyota plant in Cumana, Sucre state, was assassinated yesterday morning, triggering an occupation of that factory and quick investigations by government bodies.

"Two people, without saying a word, shot at the compatriot, Argenis Vasquez Marcano, killing him," said Tarek El Aissami, Venezuela’s minister for justice and internal affairs. "We reject this horrific crime and express our solidarity and sympathy to his family and co-workers," he said.

Vasquez, 33, was general secretary of the workers union at that Toyota assembly plant. According to one writer for Aporrrea.org he was also a student at the Venezuelan Bolivarian University and a spokesperson for his local community council.

The murder took place in the car park of the residential buildings where he lived. Two of the shots hit him in the head, causing his death. He was apparently going out to talk to a union lawyer and had just gotten off the phone to him. He had also received death threats recently.

El Aissami said that a commission from the national Scientific, Penal, and Criminal Investigation Unit (CICPC) would be investigating straight away. The commission will be working with the public prosecutor, which has also begun investigating.

The United, Classist, Revolutionary Current (CCURA) of the National Workers Union (Unete) asserts that Vasquez was murdered by hired killers and Jose Bodas, a petroleum union leader, along with CCURA, have called for mobilisations and car industry strikes against the "murderers who are decimating the revolutionary ranks" as Bodas said.

On November 29th last year, three trade union leaders of Unete were shot dead by armed assassins on motorbikes in Aragua state after participating in a labour dispute with a Colombian owned company. Journalists speculated that the attack was carried out by paramilitaries hired by the company and noted that the method of assassination resembled those used against unionists and activists in Colombia.

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Spy chief accused of murder

In a never seen before action in Colombian history, a former director of DAS, the Colombian intelligence service, has been accused of murder. According to the prosecutor general, Mario Iguaràn, Jorge Noguera is responsible for the murder of four persons, and of contracting out DAS services to the illegal paramilitary groups.

The Prosecutor’s office alleges that the DAS gave the paramilitary the names of union trade workers and university teachers that were later murdered. One of the most documented cases is the one of Alfredo Correa D’Andreis, a sociologist and teacher whom DAS performed an extensive intelligence work on, as the files of the institution show.

Correa D’Andreis was detained without proof and later, after he was freed in September 2004, he was murdered by paramilitaries in Barranquilla, northern Atlántico province. The crime caused a huge impact on the region, where Correa D’Andreis was widely acknowledged as a human right’s defender.

In April 2006, when the former DAS systems director Rafael García revealed to SEMANA the details on how Jorge Noguera sponsored the paramilitary to perform crimes such as the one of Correa D’Andreis, people thought García was crazy. But after some investigation, the Prosecutor’s office found that García was telling the truth. His version matches up with a dozen of testimonies, documents, and analyzed facts.

One of those testimonies is the one given by Jorge Enrique Palacio, who declared that William Samper, alias ‘Pupi’, a hired killer of the paramilitary and processed by the professor’s crime, told him that the murder had been ordered by Rodrigo Tovar, alias ‘Jorge 40’, who said Correa D’Andreis had to be killed because he was helping the guerrilla.

The 166 pages accusation file, that documents other similar cases, shows that Noguera must also be held responsible for the murder of Zully Esther Cordina, Fernando Pisciotti, and Adán Pacheco. The Prosecutor’s office says there are enough proofs “to assure the participation of Jorge Noguera in such serious actions (murder) throughout the delivery of information recovered by the DAS that was handed over to the service of subversive groups that publicly had announced their decision to do away with these people”

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Older cases in Romania and Iraq:

5 years since union activist's death

September 7th [2005] marks the 5 year anniversary of the assassination of Virgil Sahleanu, a trade union activist from Iasi, Romania. In the city of Iasi fliers will be distributed with information about the fraudulent privatization of the TEPRO industry in Iasi and Sahleanu's role in the battle against the Czech owners of TEPRO ... which eventually lead to his death.

THE BEGINNINGS

The TEPRO industry in Iasi is situated in the industrial part of the city, covering a surface of approximately 40 acres and having 1400 employees. The company, one of the top producers of carbon steel longitudinal welded tubes and cold molded structures in Romania, was founded in 1963 and has produced a variety of tubular products both for the internal and external markets. In 1998 TEPRO SA was bought by the Czech company Zelezarny Veseli and less than half a year later the conflict between the trade union and the employers began because the Czechs didn’t respect their agreements and their intention was not to increase the profitability of the company which at the time could sustain itself.

Testimonies of the employees claim, “The Czechs took our products and stuck the Zelezarny label on them selling them as if they had produced them. Moreover, they refused orders for certain products, recommending that potential partners sign contracts with Zelezarny Vesely. They actually wanted to occupy the international markets where TEPRO was selling its products and lead our factory into bankruptcy. Sahleanu’s death saved TEPRO but it has been 4 years since his assassination and no justice has been done for him,” stated Ioan Hariton, secretary of the ‘Virgil Sahleanu’ trade union from TEPRO Iasi, last year.

Let’s not forget that the robbing of TEPRO reached alarming dimensions especially in terms of foreign currency being taken out of the country continuously, for which the Czech owners were eventually fined by the Public Finances Board in Iasi, not to mention the fact that they placed into circulation fake treasury notes which couldn’t be approved by any bank.

VIRGIL SAHLEANU'S ROLE

Virgil Sahleanu was born on January 9th, 1946 in the village of Cacica, in Iasi County. He was a mechanical engineer by profession, a member of the Executive Bureau of the Territorial Trade Union “Cartel Alfa” in Iasi, married, and the father of 3 children. On February 12,1999, Sahleanu was chosen president of The Free Trade Union TEPRO Iasi by the Extraordinary General Assembly of the trade union. On February 15, 1999, the Free Trade Union TEPRO Iasi started a conflict, accusing the Czech company Zelezarny Veseli of the unfair dismissal of 1200 employees and of the fraudulent privatization of SC TEPRO SA. On February 19, 1999, Virgil Sahleanu was fired by the management of SC TEPRO. After a conflict lasting almost two years (from February 1999 until September 2000), under less than favorable conditions (he had to continue his trade union activity outside the industrial unit), and with the support of the METAROM trade union, he managed to cancel the dismissal of the 1200 employees in court, and he intervened decisively to cancel the disastrous contract that transformed a profitable firm into a bankrupt one.

THE ASSASSINATION

Things were improving, even if Sahleanu had received death threats and was at the same time being sued in three separate trials; none of this scared him because he had already approached the European Court in Strasbourg to judge these lawsuits. On the morning of September 7th 2000, Sahleanu was supposed to show up in court for the trials against him, but while exiting his home two persons stabbed him three times, killing him. After the examination, doctors stated that professionals were involved since any of the three stab wounds could have caused Sahleanu's death.

The assassination of the trade union leader roused a chain of reactions, leading to demonstrations and protests on streets of Iasi. His assassination rang a signal of alarm, both because of the horrible crime perpetrated in mob style, and because of the state's failure of responsibility in assuring the protection of free citizens, workers’ rights, and, most importantly, the correctness of the privatization process - since it is these abusive privatization practices that give rise to conflicts … either open conflicts between the trade union and the employers … or hidden conflicts between different decision-makers who hold their financial interests above everything else.

This assassination had many repercussions, especially concerning the workers’ rights and interests. Even if we’re dealing with a democratic political regime, the trade unions and especially their leaders are subjected to new pressures exerted by the employers…not the same employers as a few years ago but employers born from a wild capitalism that doesn’t care about anything except financial and strategical interests. As expressed in a broadcast on Radio Free Europe: “the murder of the trade union leader at TEPRO Iasi is represented as the obvious expression of the wild Romanian postcommunist capitalism”.

THE ASSASSINS

The judges of the Supreme Court of Justice:
- sentenced Victor Balan – former manager of TEPRO – to 15 years in prison
- sentenced Catalin Ciubotaru – manager of the protection agency Protect Vaslui – to 17 years of detention
- sentenced Ioan Tofan and Claudiu Bahna - the assassins of the trade union leader - to 23 years in prison each
- sentenced Valentin Blanita and Gelu Alexandru Spuma – employees of the protection agency Protect - to 5 years in prison each
- sentenced the Czech investor Franmtisek Priplata to 8 years in prison; the judges acquitted him of fraud, which led to the reduction of the initial conviction of 14 years.

It has to be mentioned that according to the bill of indictment, the Czech citizen Franmtisek Priplata, as well as Victor Balan and Catalin Ciubotaru were accused of association with the aim of committing offences and incitement to the offence of first degree murder. Valentin Blanita, Nelu Viorel Varolomei and Gelu Spuma – branch chiefs of the security firm Protect - were charged with association with the aim of committing offences and complicity to the offence of first degree murder. Ioan Tofan and Claudiu Irinel Bahna were charged with first degree murder.

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Assassination Attempt on Trade Union Leader

Prime Minister Nori al Maliki

Office of the Prime Minister

Bagdad

Iraq


By Fax: Iraqi Embassy

Re: Assassination Attempt on Leader of Trade Union

Dear Prime Minister:

I write on behalf of the leadership of the Canadian Labour Congress and the more than three million working women and men we represent, to protest the assassination attempt on Brother Khalil Ibrahim Al-Mashhadani, Vice-President of the General Federation of Iraqi Workers (GFIW). On January 31, 2007, he was injured in a bomb attack.

We believe this is a deliberate and targeted attack on a trade union activist. We have received numerous reports that many trade unionists have been murdered or abducted in Iraq due to their union activities. We have also been concerned about reports of government interference in union affairs, namely the GFIW and affiliated engineers' and lawyers' unions.

We add our voice to the statement made by the GFIW's Executive Bureau:

"The terrorist acts, the annihilation of trade unionists, the destruction and occupation of trade union offices, the freezing of the trade union movement's assets and the putting of obstacles in our way will only increase our resolve to build an independent, democratic trade union movement that is free of government and party hegemony."

Prime Minister, as a member of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Iraq has an obligation to respect the fundamental labour standards established by Convention 87 on Freedom of Association, regardless of ratification. It is unacceptable that trade unionists should exercise their activities in a climate of violence, and it is your government's responsibility to ensure security for trade unionists.

I therefore, strongly urge you to initiate a full and immediate investigation into the assassination attempt on Brother Khalil Ibrahim Al-Mashhadani, and to ensure that adequate steps are taken to provide security for trade unionists, so they can do their legitimate trade union work without fear for their security or their lives.

I urge you once again Mr. Prime Minister, to ratify the ILO Convention 87 on the right to the Freedom of Association.

I look forward to your urgent action and to your response.


Sincerely,

Kenneth V. Georgetti

President



cc: CLC Officers and Executive Assistants

CLC Executive Committee

The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Government of Canada

The Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of Labour, Government of Canada

CLC National Directors

Guy Ryder, General Secretary, ITUC

Embassy of Iraq, Ottawa