President of the Republic of El
Salvador
Mauricio Funes Cartagena
Minister of Labor and Social
Security of El Salvador
Humberto Centeno
It should be noted that since June 1st,
2009 significant progress has been
made in the field of labor, as
evidenced especially by the large
number of trade unions that exist in
the public sector and the thousands
of workers who can now defend their
rights and enjoy protection.
However, few of these gains can be
sustained if no progress is made in
the signing of collective bargaining
agreements, especially in the
private sector, where freedom of
association and collective
bargaining are still considerably
hindered and prevent workers from
improving their living conditions.
An emblematic case in this sense is
the company LIDO SA, founded
67 years ago by Raúl Molina
Martínez and later inherited by
his sons, Raúl Molina Martínez
and Manuel Roberto Molina
Martínez.
They managed it together for several
decades until the death of Raúl
Molina Martínez in September
2009.
For over a decade, LIDO SA
has been implementing a strategy of
subcontracting other companies, also
linked to the Molina Martínez
family but not included under the
collective bargaining agreement
currently in force.
Thus, even though the workers
employed by these subcontracted
companies manufacture LIDO
products, they do not have the same
benefits as the workers hired
directly by LIDO SA.
Therefore, over these past years the
basic principle of “equal pay for
equal work” has been violated.
For example, subcontracted
workers of the company FAMOLCAS
SA, which is part of the LIDO
Group, earn about 226 US dollars
a month with no additional benefits
other than those strictly stipulated
by law, and their rights are
constantly threatened.
In contrast, the workers employed
directly by LIDO SA, who
perform the same tasks and work side
by side with outsourced workers, in
the same workplace, earn a monthly
wage of 281 US dollars, with the
benefits established under the
collective bargaining agreement
signed between LIDO SA and
our trade union, SELSA.
Despite our efforts to include the
workers subcontracted by FAMOLCAS
and other companies of the LIDO
Group in the collective
agreement, the legal representatives
of the group have stubbornly refused
to heed our demands.
Since the death of Raúl
Molina Martínez this situation
has been aggravated by heated family
and business disputes, which have
resulted in some serious
consequences. One such consequence
was the bankruptcy of DIGAPAN SA
de CV, for which an action
has been brought against Manuel
Roberto Molina Martínez in San
Salvador’s Fifth Court of Criminal
Investigation, on charges of
misappropriating money withheld from
the workers’ wages for social
security benefits, pensions, loans
and child support.
As a result, 600 people lost their
jobs in a conflict that could have
been resolved through negotiations.
In July 2011, when it came time to
revise our wages, we were forced to
stage a strike pursuant to legal
provisions. Not only did the company
refuse to address our demands, it
has responded with repression and
confrontation.
We have been trying to revise our
collective bargaining agreement
since September 2011, in accordance
to the procedure established by law.
LIDO SA
has refused to attend the different
stages of direct negotiations and
conciliation convened by the
Ministry of Labor.
Our latest effort at establishing a
dialogue was a request for
arbitration, but the company failed
to even respond to this request.
Instead, on February 8 it stepped up
the confrontation by firing 12
workers, leaving us with no other
option than to stage a legal strike.
Even though we have the right to
strike and have made the decision to
go ahead with the strike, pursuant
to the law and with the full support
of the workers, we have found
that management’s intransigence
is being prompted by
interests that have nothing to do
with labor relations and which
are seeking to create an atmosphere
of social instability during the
coming elections.
That is the only explanation we can
find for LIDO SA’s
latest actions, which are pushing us
to stage a strike that will
practically coincide with the
legislative and municipal elections.
For all of the above:
1.- We ask the Minister of Labor and
Social Security, Humberto Centeno
to, personally and through the
different offices of the Ministry,
act effectively and without delay to
mediate this conflict and call the
company to the negotiating table so
we can resolve our differences
through dialogue.
2.- We ask the President of the
Republic, Mauricio Funes
Cartagena, to use his good
offices with LIDO SA to
facilitate a negotiated solution to
this labor conflict.
3.- We call on LIDO SA’s
management to reflect on the
situation and not be manipulated by
interests that have nothing to do
with labor relations, and to sit
down and negotiate in a forthcoming
and proactive way.
4.- We ask the workers of all the
companies that are part of the
LIDO SA Group to be on
alert to trade union calls, so that,
if necessary, we can stage a strike
pursuant to legal provisions in all
the centers of production operating
under the LIDO brand.
5.- We ask consumers in El
Salvador and the United
States to demand that the
LIDO SA products they purchase
be manufactured under improved
working conditions for the
Salvadorians who day after day
put great energy and effort to make
such products.
San Salvador, February 20, 2012
Union of Workers of LIDO S.A. (SELSA)
An affiliate of FESTSSABHRA, CSTS
and the IUF
