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Chile

 

   Concha, Police and Nestlé

 

    

 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:

 

- 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.

 

 

From Montevideo, Enildo Iglesias

Rel-UITA

June 23, 2009

Enildo Iglesias

 

 

 

Foto: CONFEDACH

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