There are no union rights without human rights

On Tuesday 23 January a group of us arrived in a minibus at the police station in the small Pacific coast town of Iztapa in Guatemala. Accompanied by our own heavily armed guards provided by the Human Rights Commission of the Congress, we gathered around the wreck of a car punctured with dozens of high calibre bullet holes.

This was the car in which Pedro Zamora, general secretary of STEPQ the Port Workers’ Union in Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala, had ended his life in an ambush while collecting his children from a local clinic. It was a sobering start to the ITF-ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) mission, which aimed to press for a proper investigation into the murder and to help ensure the safety of the other members of the union board.

In the following days the mission questioned a range of political figures and institutions.

The police told us that – despite the months of bitter dispute at the port, as well as a year of death threats issued to Zamora and other union leaders – they were not considering any other line of enquiry than a possible domestic dispute. Senior government investigators informed us they had never actually seen Zamora’s body.

They were working from medical reports, which were at odds with the witness accounts of those who took Zamora to hospital. We heard from human rights officials that in Guatemala there is a climate where political murders take place with total impunity.

In striking contrast to these depressing reports, we experienced for ourselves the dignity of Pedro’s mother and family and their determination to see justice for him.

We met dedicated human rights activists whose work often involves risking their own lives. And we witnessed the extraordinary courage of the STEPQ union members determined to carry on their struggle despite the risks and threats they and their families face.

During the mission we demanded the reinstatement of nine union members who had been dismissed during protests against the restructuring of the port. This was vital for sustaining the union’s strength. We also met with international financial institutions, pressing them to hold back from further investment while human rights violations were ongoing.

Within days of the mission’s departure the port management had been forced to give the workers their jobs back “due to international attention” and international banks had given assurances that no investment would happen while serious abuses continued. There also appeared to be a knock-on effect with management in another Guatemalan port agreeing to negotiate with unions for the first time in 15 years.

The ITF and ITUC are now stepping up their campaign for the murderers of Pedro Zamora to be brought to justice and for the other STEPQ union leaders to be protected from threats of death. It will be a long struggle for union rights in Guatemala. In February two other workers were killed by gunmen in other parts of the country. This is one of the most basic struggles of international unionism. We can never accept that union leaders can be murdered with impunity.