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At a General Assembly held
in the northern Nicaraguan
city of Matagalpa, the Union
of Workers of Productos
Lácteos S.A. (SINPROLAC)
ratified its firm commitment
to defend labor and trade
union rights, stressing the
need for all union members
to become actively involved
in strengthening the
organization. Participants
at the assembly also
underlined the importance of
the union’s affiliation to
the IUF, viewing it as an
essential source of support
and a key denunciation tool.
In front of a numerous
audience of union members,
SINPROLAC’s general
secretary, Félix Rizo,
recalled the union’s
origins, highlighting the
struggles waged over its 33
years of existence.
“We went through very harsh
times. Workers had no rights
and were relentlessly
exploited. This situation
gave rise to efforts to form
a trade union, defying the
dictatorship of Anastasio
Somoza and exposing
ourselves to repression.”
“The dictatorship and
management could not
conceive of workers
organizing to defend their
rights,” Rizo said.
“They called us
‘communists,’ repressed us,
and made union leaders
disappear.
“But they could never break
our fighting spirit. We
succeeded in forming
SINPROLAC, and
here we are now,
representing the working
class with our heads held
high,” he said amidst
enthusiastic applause.
Rizo
ran through the results of
the union’s actions in 2010
and outlined future
challenges, including the
presentation of the list of
demands and the negotiations
to renew the collective
bargaining agreement that
expires in January 2011.
“Here in the Nestlé
plant (Compañía
Centroamericana de Productos
Lácteos SA - PROLACSA),
there’s a trade union and a
governing committee that are
fighting for our right to
collective bargaining,”
Benigno López, a
SINPROLAC member, said.
“We need to strengthen them
and keep them alive. We have
to get involved, uphold the
union, because if the union
dies, our social demands
will die with it,” López
said.
Nestlé violates rights
At the assembly, several
members of SINPROLAC
took the floor to denounce
the Swiss transnational
corporation’s trampling of
workers rights, including
abusing and disrespecting
workers, introducing
baseless changes in the
criteria for implementing
certain benefits, such as
the thirteenth-month pay,
and the imposition of night
shifts for pregnant women in
their last trimester.
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The
dictatorship and management could not conceive of workers organizing to defend
their rights. They called us ‘communists,’ repressed us, and made union leaders
disappear. But they could never break our fighting spirit. |
They also focused on the
urgent need for the Labor
Ministry (MITRAB) to
issue a new, firm resolution
regarding the results of its
June 2010 inspection, which
confirmed that Nestlé
committed the above
irregularities.
“The Regional Work
Inspection Office made a
second visit to the company
and found that it was not
implementing its resolution.
What we’re asking now is for
a final, firm decision so
that we can move on and file
a complaint in court,”
Rizo said.
Also present at the assembly
was Marcial Cabrera,
general secretary of the
United Federation of Food
Workers of Nicaragua (FUTATSCON),
who conveyed a message of
solidarity from the IUF.
“I congratulate all the
members of SINPROLAC
for their decision to join
the IUF. You work for
Nestlé, the largest
food company in the world, a
transnational corporation
that will take advantage of
any weakness in unions to
undermine them.
We need to act with great
intelligence and skill,
because these large
transnational corporations
have no use for unions that
defend the interests of
workers. They make a profit
at the expense of their
workers.
But rest assured that you
are not alone in this, and
that you can count on the
full support of the IUF
and the Latin American
Federation of Nestlé Workers
(FELATRAN) for the
upcoming negotiations of
your new collective
bargaining agreement,”
Cabrera said.
At the end of the meeting,
the union elected its new
authorities, confirming most
of the previous directors,
including the general
secretary, Félix Rizo,
for a new term.
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