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SITRAINDUS is the union of
workers of Industrial
Surindu SA created in
September, 2008. This
company, owned by Nestlé, is
located in the city of
Guayaquil and employs 530
people who produce cookies
and biscuits. Lucas Suárez,
secretary general of
SITRAINDUS, in this dialogue
with Sirel explained the
severe union busting.
- What are the problems
with the company?
-Since its creation, the
union has been
struggling for
collective bargaining
like every other union.
From the legal point of
view, in order to have a
Collective Bargaining
Agreement, the union
needs to organize at
least 50 percent of all
workers. Our union
reached this number very
quickly but the company
began terrible union
busting, using all sorts
of tricks to hinder our
objective.
The company does not
want to have a
Collective Bargaining
Agreement or Works
Council.
- How did this company
boycott the union?
- For example, every
time we submit a list of
members with the
certainty that we had
the required number, the
company would include
workers of other plants
in the payroll, thus
increasing the number
required for the union.
Also, more than 100
workers were fired, many
of whom were union
members.
- Is it legal to
exaggerate the number of
workers in the payroll?
- Of course not, but it
was done in complicity
with labor authorities.
In spite of all this, in
December we submitted
our charter of demands
with 5 items, including
the restitution of
workers dismissed in
2008 and a wage increase
of 15 dollars a day. We
also demanded that the
CCTV mounted by the
company be dismantled.
No reply was received
for 6 months, then, in
early July, the company
laid 17 workers off, 8
of which were union
members.
Finally, that was their
reply.
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Nestlé needs to understand that workers have rights which must be respected by
the company. |
- You mean more union
busting...
- No doubt. And we still
suffer it.
- How do you see the
attitude of the Ministry of
Labor?
- They turn a blind eye...
- But, isn’t Ecuadorian
government a popular one?
-Yes, but apparently we do
not have enough support. In
the Ministry of Labor there
still is huge corruption.
Transnational corporations
are protected and they
refuse to acknowledge the
rights granted to workers by
law. There have already been
similar situations in other
companies, which have been
reported, but nothing
happened. This is a popular
government but workers lack
guarantees. Our situation is
desperate because we do not
know when the company will
take drastic decisions
again. We need to stop this
busting. Corporate security
has been doubled.
- And is there also CCTV? To
have workers on watch?
- Of course. They claim the
reason is drugs, but cameras
are focused on the
production sector. There are
check-points for workers at
entrance and exit, and we
are affected because we feel
like criminals. Nestlé
needs to understand that
workers have rights that
must be respected by the
company.
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