The working-class history of the Republic of Guatamala

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International Centre for Trade Union Rights and Central American Human Rights Committee joint campaign for trade union rights in Guatemala
Central American Human Rights Committee (CAHRC), 24 November 1995. Reviews the labor situation in Guatemala since the CIA-sponsored coup that overthrew the elected Government in 1954. Over the years there have been countless cases of trade union leaders and activists being murdered, tortured and disappeared.
No End Soon to Court Workers Strike
Cerigua Weekly Briefs, 27 March 1996. A strike by some 2,000 court workers, members of the Justice System Workers Union (STOJ), is entering its tenth day. Strikers have been threatened with criminal charges and dismissal.
Unions March Against Privatization
Cerigua Weekly Briefs, No. 11, 11 March 1997. Thousands took to the streets in the first major protest against President Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen's unpopular economic measures. And today the Catholic Church added its voice to the growing clamor for the suspension of the government's ambitious privatization program.
Guatemalan Pepsi union seeks solidarity
From U.S./Guatemala Labor Education Project, 30 July 1997. On July 15, management of Embotelladora Mariposa, S.A. (EMSA) illegally fired 28 members of the three-year old union at the Pepsi bottling plant in Guatemala City just as the union submitted a new contract proposal. Several of those fired are involved in the contract negotiations.
Death threats against municipal workers in Guazacapan
Christian Task Force on Central America, Urgent Action Guatemala, 4 May 1998. Members of the Municipal Workers Union of Guazacapan, Guatemala (SINTRAMGUASR), received death threats because they insisted that their rights be respected. Since February, the workers had not received their pay. The union has been engaged in unsucessful negotiations with the Municipal Council.
Goodyear tire workers appeal for solidarity
IMF News, 24 February 2000. The Guatemalan metalworkers' federation, FETRAMEGUA, appeals to the IMF for international solidarity with its affiliate, the GINSA Workers' Union (Sindicato de Trabajadores de GINSA—STGINSA). GINSA produces Goodyear tires in Guatemala and is anti-union and merciless in its harsh treatment of workers, especially those who are trade union members.
Good news from Goodyear
IMF News, 27 March 2000. Following both national and international trade union intervention with regard to the anti-union attitude of GINSA, a company which produces Goodyear tires in Guatemala, management finally accepted to negotiate and has now reached an agreement with the union on its demands.