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A
formidable Trinity
On May 26, the workers of
Transportes Ricardo Concha
Ltda. -which distributes
Nestlé products,
among other goods-, tired of
their employer’s abuses,
gathered in an assembly to
form a trade union, electing
Miguel Donoso Dueñas
as president, Marcos
Erices Cáceres as
secretary, and Juan
Venegas Díaz as
treasurer. The workers
received the assistance of
leaders of the Federation
of Nestlé Workers - Maipú
(an IUF affiliate by
way of the Confederation of
Food and Related Industry
Federations of Chile,
CONFEDACH), who attended
the assembly and helped them
establish the union and
elect the authorities, in
the presence of a Notary
Public as required by law.
After closing the assembly
and completing the necessary
formalities, Miguel
Donoso and Marcos
Erices immediately began
their training on the risks
that being a union leader in
Chile entails, as
they headed back to the
Nestlé plant accompanied
by the leaders of the
Federation of Nestlé Workers,
Héctor López Albornoz
and Jerónimo Guzmán
Segovia in a
Transportes Concha truck
driven by Donoso, who
was authorized to take the
vehicle home at the end of
his workday. A few meters
before they reached the
plant they were stopped by
several patrol cars carrying
a group of police officers
armed to their teeth. One of
the policemen, identified as
“officer Gutiérrez”,
yelled: “on the floor you
motherfuckers” and
without further ado the
workers were forced to lie
face down on the ground, in
the middle of the street,
while the police officers
aimed their weapons at their
heads, under the astonished
eyes of bystanders.
As more and more patrol cars
arrived at the scene -which
looked like something
straight out of a Hollywood
action film, with screaming
sirens and all-, the police
action was monitored by
Luis Aqueveque,
supervisor of Transportes
Concha, who looked on
from a company vehicle
parked nearby, and was soon
joined by the owner of the
company, Ricardo Concha
Espinoza. The police
then cuffed the unionists
and piled them all into a
patrol car, refusing to
listen to any explanations,
and took them to a police
station where they were
charged with truck theft.
Ricardo Concha later
declared that he would not
be filing charges against
the Nestlé Federation
leaders, but threatened to
make good on his threat to
file charges against his
employees, the leaders of
the just-created trade
union.
Considering the forces
deployed and the ‘bravery’
of his men, officer
Gutiérrez was apparently
disappointed that such a
major operation would end
with only one person
charged. So, displaying an
insight worthy of his rank,
he argued that if the driver
was charged, the others had
to be charged as accomplices
for covering up the theft.
Seeing how things were
getting a bit out of hand,
Ricardo Concha
decided to drop all charges,
and the arrested workers
were set free.
But like in a Greek tragedy,
this story has a humorous
side -as narrated above- and
a dramatic side, played out
by three main characters:
Transportes Ricardo Concha
Ltda.:
A company that has no
problem in falsely charging
two of its workers with car
theft so that it can fire
them, or at least scare
them, for the ‘crime’ of
being elected leaders of the
recently-formed union.
Chile’s Police Forces:
An institution that
after almost 20 years of
regained democracy, displays
an arrogance and brutality
reminiscent of the years of
dictatorship. Among the
principles that must guide a
police officer’s behavior
are prudence, a respect for
human dignity, the principle
of proportionality, honesty,
and professional
impartiality. Officer
Gutiérrez seems to be in
need of a refreshment
course, because he is
sorely lacking in all of
these attributes.
Nestlé Chile:
In its guiding document,
published with the
high-sounding title of “Nestlé
Corporate Business
Principles,” the company
states that: “Nestlé
fully supports the United
Nations Global Compact’s
four guiding principles on
labor. Nestlé therefore
upholds:
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Freedom of association and
the effective recognition of
the right to collective
bargaining.
(Principle 3).
It also states that
“Nestlé uses the
Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development
(OECD) -a body which
Chile is set to become a
member of- Guidelines for
Multinational Enterprises,”
and these guidelines include
the right of workers to be
represented by trade unions.
For its part, Nestlé’s
Code of Business Conduct,
after stipulating that
all employees should always
be guided by its principles,
notes that for “the purposes
of this Code, references to
‘employees’ include
employees, associates,
officers and directors of
Nestlé S.A. and its
subsidiaries.” (Stress
added). So, as an associate
of Nestlé,
Transportes Ricardo Concha
Ltda. is bound by the
obligations set by the Code
of Conduct and if it ignores
such obligations, Nestlé
must call its attention to
it and force it to comply
with something that is
clearly stipulated.
What happened on May 26 was
so deplorable and so many
union, civil and human
rights were violated during
the incident that we trust
that amends will soon be
made and we won’t have to
bother with this matter
again. We also have the
right to demand that the
Nestlé Corporate Business
Principles become
something more than just a
simple instrument of
propaganda.
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