In a procedure almost identical to that of the Nestle Ice Cream Plant of Santo Domingo before the closure, Nestle Ecuador recently hired a new manager for the factory, who has not abstained from confronting with workers. Now he dismissed two of them, active union leaders, without cause, except union harassment.  In dialogue with Sirel, Carlos Lucas Cedeño, general secretary of the Works Council and Workers Union of Nestle Ecuador (CESTNE) gave his view.).

 

-What was the process for these two layoffs?

- It all began with the change of management in early May, when Mr. Mauricio Trujillo was hired.  He is Colombian and apparently he has managed other Nestle plants in Venezuela and Brazil. On 29 July, Carlos Mazzini was laid off.  He had worked for the company for five years.  And on 1 August it was the turn of Carlos Torres Vera, who had 14 years of service in the company. The first one was falsely accused of having fallen asleep at work. The fact is that the work position of Mazzini had been changed without his consent, which is called here "untimely dismissal". The union was negotiating with the company for the return of Mr. Mazzini to his original job, because we know that Trujillo has a list of “recommended persons” to replace the key positions of those workers who are less docile, particularly unionists. We had even applied for a two-party meeting about this issue and we were preparing the set of demands to present at the Department of Labor.

 

-Did you manage to meet?

- The day before the layoff of Mazzini, 28 July, we were at a meeting with management and several colleagues of the three shifts decided to support our action and waited for us at the plant to find out the results of the meeting. Under these circumstances Trujillo invited them to leave the plant. Our brother Carlos Torres insisted that they were not doing anything wrong or interrupting anybody's work.  He correctly explained the reason why they were there. Trujillo’s reply was: “So you are a naughty guy”, in a threatening tone. Next day he was not allowed in the premises, Mazzini was dismissed, and later Torres was dismissed as well. These are, then, abusive and illegal layoffs.

 

-Have you had any other meeting with the company?

- We have asked, but unsuccessfully.  We have even been threatened by Trujillo that if we go on there will be more layoffs. But they will not frighten us.  We have already brought action with the Labor authorities, which have notified the company, which is bound to present the grounds this week. After that, there are three hearings according to law in order to reach an agreement.  Otherwise we can bring legal action.

 

-Why do you think this is happening?

-  We think his is influenced by the fact that we presented a draft for our 31st Collective Bargaining Agreement. But according to Ecuadorian Labor Law, once this has been done, companies cannot dismiss workers during the bargaining process. This is why we have stopped the bilateral discussion and we are waiting for the tripartite hearings with the Labor authorities.

 

-Has Mr. Trujillo had any other provocative attitudes before the layoffs?

- Two days after he arrived, one seasonal worker had an accident because a working tool was missing and the worker burned his hand. According to national law, a person who has suffered an accident cannot be dismissed. But Trujillo sent him on leave and told us:  "I would rather spend more money and not have people who come here to have accidents or to die here, because there are many persons outside who want to work”. Since we absolutely refused his argument, he ended up stating that he was not interfering with permanent workers, but only with seasonal workers. Something we did not accept either. Obviously, he was already prone to provocation and he is fully supported by the company.

 

-How will this conflict continue?

-The company must submit its statement to the Department of Labor not later than Tuesday 19, then the Inspector of Labor will convene a mediation of three meetings within a twelve-day period.  If there is no agreement, the issue is referred to a court of appeals, and if there is no agreement there either, it is submitted to a third instance with the Inspector General of Labor. Beyond all these steps, there is the possibility of a strike, although we do not want to reach such action.

 

-How many workers are employed by Nestle?

- There is a total of 280 workers at the plant.  More than half of them are outsourced in process of becoming permanent because the new Constitution of Ecuador does not allow outsourcing in the way it used to be carried out before. In this sense, Nestle committed illegal acts because according to law outsourcing more than half of the jobs was not allowed, and in our case it had surpassed fifty percent.