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NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY
CAMPAIGN ACTION GROUP The following national trade unions are currently affiliated: BFAWU, BECTU, CWU, FBU, NUT, PCS, RMT, UNISON, UNITE (AMICUS), UNITE (T & G), USDAW |
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NSCAG Youth Delegation, February 2008:
Report and findings Photo shows members of the Maria Elena Cuadra womens' rights organisation with the delegation participants: Jennifer Forbes, CWU, Heenal Rajani, UNISON, Daniel Robertson, UNISON, Altaf Aris, UNITE Amicus and Daniel Carden, UNITE TGWU.  1) The FNT (National Workers' Front): structures and campaigns The FNT currently has seven member trade union federations: UNE, Public sector workers: 25,000 affiliates FETSALUD, Health workers, 19,000 affiliates FESITUN, University workers, 3,000 affiliates ANDEN, Teachers union, 17,000 affiliates CST-JBE, Communications, maquillas and private sector workers: 25,000 affiliates CTCP, Informal workers, 22,000 affiliates FEPDES- ATD, 2,500 affiliates The General secretary of each of these trade union federations sits on the FNT Executive Committee, along with a Women’s representative and Education Coordinator. The FNT has a relatively centralized and vertical structure. The FNT's main campaigns at a national level include: Trade agreements - Campaign against the proposed EU Association Agreement, making sure that trade unions are include in the negotiation. The FNT states that it will not sign the agreement under any terms even if the government decides to go ahead. If the agreement is signed the FNT are supporting the proposal that the EU gives Nicaragua $35 million to be spent on developing economic capacity. This campaign is being carried out in collaboration with all trade union federations in Nicaragua through the Nicaraguan Council of trade unions. - Promotion of ALBA as an alternative to CAFTA - Promotion of fair-trade and not free trade Anti-privatisation and pro-nationalisation - The enforcement of article 185 of the constitution on free health and education - Anti-privatisation of water - Promotion of the nationalisation of electricity - Campaign to make employers respect CBA´s in water and other privatised institutions Equality of rights, pay and work - campaigning to limit discrimination due to gender, age and ethnic origin in the workplace - campaigning on particular issue of 25% disparity of pay for women in same work roles Budget campaigns - Mobilization of workers to support reforms in the regressive tax system, for example, raising the minimum salary for taxation (currently at $US 270 per month when the basic cost of living is $US 350 per month). - Campaign to reform government payment of internal debt by reducing payment of CENIS bonds which accounted for 8 million cordobas of expenditure last year, compared to 9 million received in social security payments - Campaign to increase minimum wage by 16%, rather than government proposal of 12%, to be paid for by reform government payment of bank bond repayments - Campaign to reinstate the public bank whilst also creating an FNT workers bank to provide credit to workers to improve their conditions, eg, housing, small businesses. Health and Education - FNT is supporting its union leaders to provide education in local communities in collaboration with the FSLN literacy campaign -FETSALUD are collaborating with the Sandinista doctors movement, working to provide health care in local communities Wage distribution - All FNT union officials and unionists in the national assembly invest a percentage of their earnings back into their trade unions and, in the case of Gustavo Porras and unionists in national assembly, also work voluntarily for their union. As well as mobilizing the FNT membership, these campaigns are being supported through collaboration with other national union federations and FNT representation in the FSLN national assembly and the Sandinista Council by Gustavo Porras. 2) The FNT Women’s Committee The FNT has a Women’s committee that consists of the women’s secretary of each of the 7 union federations. Of these, one also sits on the FNT Executive - Miriam Reyes, who also coordinates the youth work. 40% of FNT members are women, 45% are in regional union positions but only 30% in national positions. Within the FNT member unions the work with women is strongest in the sectors of health and education and maquillas, as this is where most women are employed. Andrea Morales, youth and women’s organizer for CST-JBE is the youngest on the committee. The women’s committee is working to: - empower women and open up spaces in the FNT directive, with a goal of 50% participation at all levels of the FNT. - include a gender focus in the work and agenda of the FNT, promoting the discussion of specific issues for women workers at the FNT level (for example the impact of the EU AA on women workers, as researched by the CST-JBE). - carry out training for both women and men around gender and empowerment issues. - develop training in sexual reproduction and health, with particular focus on problems of HIVAIDS and STD´s - strengthen FNT campaigns on femicide and anti-violence against women - promote the PSI maternity campaign The obstacles to this work include: - a lack of financial resources to carry out women focused activities and women orientated structures at local and regional level (the current FNT budget allows for only 3 workshops per year for the women’s committee) - the women’s committee do not have their own office, computer or equipment. - men are aware of the issues and talk the talk but do not do anything when it comes to taking actions in defense of women’s rights and empowerment (An interesting report has been published by the Central American union federation on the obstacles faced by women in CA trade unions) Key issues for women workers - Nationally, women earn 25% less than men in the same jobs, compared to 15% in the UK - Women do not have places to leave children during work hours (the FSLN have committed to develop day care centres) - Many women workers, especially in the maquillas, are single mothers and are therefore especially fearful of organising and loosing their jobs. - Women do not yet have the confidence to take the leading roles within the trade unions, especially when their male counterparts want these posts as well 3) The FNT Youth Programme The FNT Ad-hoc youth Committee is 2 years old and was initiated and set up by the Women’s Committee, who still coordinate the youth work. The FNT Ad-hoc youth committee consists of Miriam Reyes (Coordinator of the FNT youth and women’s committee), Carlos Tinoco (FNT Youth coordinator and UNE/ FETRAJUN), Freddy Fritoria (FNT Youth secretary and FESITUN), plus input from Armando (CST-JBE Youth Secretary) and Vidal Luiz (FETSALUD Youth secretary) and Walter Espinoza (CTCP Youth secretary). ANDEN and FEPDES-ATD are not represented as they do not yet have active youth structures within their own federations. UNE appears to be the strongest of the federations in terms of youth work and are pushing this development throughout the FNT. The aim of the FNT is to set up a permanent Youth Committee consisting of youth leaders from each of the seven member trade union federations. It was agreed at the FNT extraordinary Congress on February 16th 2008 that this permanent youth committee would be agreed upon at the FNT Congress 2009. This delay will give the FNT time to develop the youth work in all their member unions to ensure that all seven federations have an active youth committee that can be represented by a youth secretary at the FNT level. One of these youth leaders will then be elected to sit on the FNT Executive committee. At Congress it was also decided to split the youth and women’s committees and Maritza Espinoza was therefore elected as new youth coordinator, replacing Miriam (Maritza is the General Secretary of FESITUN, on the FNT Womens Committee and the FNT Exec. as Education Coordinator). When the young delegates from the UK spoke at the FNT extraordinary Congress they supported this decision to formalise the FNT youth structures and ensure their representation on the FNT Executive, making reference to the contribution this can and has made to the development of youth participation within British trade unions. The first stage of the FNT youth programme has been to map the young members, get them organized and in positions within their unions and develop youth structures within the individual unions and federations. This has been achieved through 7 national conferences for each federation (with 25 participants each plus more where the unions themselves funded young member participants) plus one national FNT Youth Assembly. The idea is that these youth will then train other young members within their unions. Using the demands and ideas of the youth that participated in this assembly in November 2007, the future youth work has been outlined in the FNT Strategic plan. The FNT have also mentioned that they aim to have a youth coordinator in each of the 28 municipalities. Now the funds have been transferred from UNISON, the FNT are ready to start the next stage of the youth project, implementing their strategic plan and carrying out the next round of workshops at federation and national level. The final report of these activities will be produced in August. Some obstacles to youth organizing and participation: - Apathy:The last 16 years of right wing rule has broken down structures for youth participation, the governments doing nothing to promote youth or womens participation, just promoting consumerism rather than values and activism. Strategies are needed to re-engage youth and bring back the youth commitment of the 80´s. The right wing media also continues to attack trade union freedom and activism - Youth unemployment is high so many people don’t start work until they are 30. Once people have a job they want to stay in this position so few spaces open up for young people. - Young people often go to the private sector for work as they get better roles, e.g, managerial roles, although this work is not better paid. Unions have a lot less influence in the private sector 4) The FNT and the FSLN (Sandinista Party, currently in power) * The FNT state that they will not abandon their Sandinista flag and feel that the FSLN is more dynamic with FNT participation. They need to remain in the structure to influence it and will maintain their opinions and voice in the assembly. * The FNT support the government but are against the economic models in place in the country, if the government decides to accept capitalist pressure then the FNT will be in contradiction to the government. The FNT very much see it as the role of the workers to highlight and problems within the government and push the changes away from neo-liberalism. * They feel that the FSLN is the best alliance for workers but the issue is that some ministers are not being coherent with the government policy and the FNT will continue to support the marginalized and not the attitudes of corrupt officials. * The ministry of labour is now far more in favour of workers issues and there is much less corruption, improving relations with the unions. The FNT state that they do however remain autonomous from the FSLN and have already organized two strikes in government institutions of the ministry of labour and the Supreme Court of Justice.. Many member unions of the FNT believe that the FSLN used a number of strategies, such as the abortion ban and signing of CAFTA to get into power, but now that they are in power they have the power to consider alternatives, for example by promoting ALBA. However, the government is not able to appeal CAFTA agreement as they would suffer sever penalties if they went back in the agreement, eg, Nicaragua has to pay the loss of earnings to nay companies that would loose out if CAFTA was appealed. 5) Meetings with FNT member unions, per sector a. Informal sector workers 
(see photo) The CTCP (Confederacion de Trabajadores de Cuenta Propia) was founded in 2002 and initially worked with workers at the traffic lights. These workers were accused of killing an Executive member of the police and 364 of the workers were detained. The union fought for the release of the workers and from then on worked to organize and improve conditions. The informal sector represents 75% of employment in Nicaragua, 78% of these workers are women. Most informal workers live and work in Managua. 60% of cash flow in Nicaragua passes through the informal sector. Informal workers don’t receive social security but contribute 60% to the national economy. CTCP want the government to recognise this contribution and incorporate the demands of the informal sector into the budget. Workers are harrassed, often sexually (for example bus drivers will insist they get to touch up the worker if she wants to be let on the bus to sell produce), suffer violence and are constantly moved on by police although informal work is legal police can use laws such as obstruction of right of way (workers are often detained for days at a time impacting greatly on worker income that week). Health is also a big issue due to long work hours in conditions of pollution, dust, strong sun etc. Daily humiliation is another key issue. Many female workers are also single mothers. The average age is $80 per month but this can vary greatly The main aim of the CTCP is to get people off the street and out of indecent work into decent work with safe and secure environment. The CTCP main areas of work are training, access to health care, work stability, supporting primary, secondary and higher education (incl. 16 workers who have been sent to study medicine in Cuba), providing infrastructure such as stalls and supporting workers to set up formal shops and small businesses to improve conditions and stability of work, encouraging participation in national policy and trying to get protection for informal workers built into national law. The CTCP consists of 5 unions, 87 union branches and 32, 986 members. They are affiliated to and on the EC of Street Net International and they founded SEICAP (Central American network of informal and unemployed workers) CTCP stated that they have no political affiliation and work regularly with all political parties, they want to be self-sufficient and not dependant on party affiliation. Youth- the CTCP now have youth secretary (walter espinoiza) and ad-hoc youth committee of 3 elected young members and aim to formalize youth structure to enable participation at FNT level. Over 15 young members turned up at the meeting from the age of 12 to 25. Some of the youth were involved in other networks such as the Sandanista youth front and the Genesis cooperative of 40 informal workers, 32 women (a Jubilee house, Quaker funded project to set up a worker owned organic thread factory in cuidad sandina), who requested help to cover their living costs whilst they set up the business, education support and training on gender issues. The CTCP separate their youth work into those over 16, as this is when you can get an identity card, and those under 16. They also separate youth in terms of those who want to be organized and improve conditions and those who don’t, ie, those who are involve in crime and drugs. They work with these separately giving moral education and support to get out of their lives on the street. They also arrange sporting activities as many young workers get no opportunities to do recreational activities, as well as supporting youth with education grants. b. Maquilla workers UNE, September 11th union (the day they signed their CBA): organizing in a Korean clothing factory in the free trade zone in Carazo. Conditions used to be very poor with major union repression, wage cuts and not permitting workers to go to the toilet. The Korean owner would continually threat that they would relocate if union pressures increase. Unions now exist but workers are told that if they want to work with the union they have to make up for the lost work hours in the evening or at weekends. CST-JBE, Che Guevara union. The assistant secretary, Fidas Humberto, is an active young member, definitely the most inspiring person we met, he spoke out at the FNT Congress about a number of issues, particularly the problems with the lack of young people doing youth work within the FNT. He set up the Che Guevara union in his work place in the maquillas and plans to develop this work in other maquillas in the near future. He was sacked and black listed after 4 years working at the maquilla and is now unemployed. He was originally a member of a white union, where the employer paid him 400 cordobas a month to make no complaints, he then joined another worker in setting up the Che Guevara union and soon after 200 people were sacked for joining or considering joining!. 38 workers remained with the union and managed to get the employer to agree to reinstate the workers, but no action has been taken. 70 workers went on strike in May but all were then sacked. Fidas cant get another job until his case has been heard by the labour ministry.The same company, Hin Sing (?), has another 37 factories in the free trade zone, the Che Guevara union is trying to organize in all factories but face many obstacles so little progress has been made. CST-JBE, March 9th union for sweat shop workers - has branches in a number of different factories in the free trade zones. Their work is gender focused and they are aiming for 80% women representation in the union leadership. CST-JBE (Confederacion Sindical de Trabajadores – Jose Benito Escobar) (general info): Armando lopez was our main contact at the CST. He is the CST education secretary and CST rep on the FNT Youth Committee. The CST have 19 trade union federations, 120 unions in sectors of private industry, trade and services, construction, maquillas, free trade zones, communication, food industry, banana workers, sea workers (fishing, diving, sailing) They have 6 women and one youth secretary on the EC. They are politically autonomous but identify with the Sandanista movement. They believe in political autonomy to be able to grow and defend the interest of workers CST work in the maquillas: CST is working with other sectors to try and secure jobs for the sacked workers outside of the free trade zones. CST is asking the government to make sure that all companies pay a deposit when setting up in free trade zones. The new government has improved the situation by not taking any bribes from the companies to avoid tax, but now many are threatening to leave. Company case study: Mille Colores has been in Nicaragua for 10 years without paying tax and running up severe debts of rent expenses as well as owing 74 million cordobas in social security payments. Company closed over the weekend without telling workers, over 500 jobs were lost. Security guards called workers to say the company was moving out- the workers took over the factory by force and fought for 4 months for severance payment. Case is in the courts and workers are waiting for factory and equipment to be auctioned. Key issues for women in maquillas - 80% of the workforce are women (which Fidas believes is mainly due to the fact that they are easier to manipulate by employers) - union membership is no where near proportional to this 80% -Many women workers in the maquillas are single mothers and therefore are very fearful of organising and loosing their jobs, making this representation difficult to achieve. -Women have to work long hours and are not offered any child care support in the factories: these issues are not represented by men in the unions. -Women do not yet have the confidence to take the leading roles within the trade unions, especially when their male counterparts want these posts as well - Employers will not hire pregnant women, although permanent workers do sometimes get maternity leave (3 months only in national labour law). Many women will however be kept on short term contracts to avoid this Youth- we met with about 15 young members under 30 and all were very active within their unions. The general secretary and Armando left the group after intial questions leaving us for a direct exchange with the young members without the intervention of the leadership, which was very refreshing and enabled many interesting discussions. They plan to develop their youth programme with new training methods and a sports and culture programme. The CST asked for support along supply chains, eg EU consumers of clothes produced in Nicaragua, to organize joint campaigns. Urgent action responses for when union leaders are sacked, raising awareness of what the TUs are doing and financial support for cultural and sport activities c. Communications workers CST-JBE, Federation Enrique Schmidt. (We met with Enitel call center workers and telephone engineers) Telecommunication companies have recently been privatized and many are now owned by Slim (?) or Movistar. The workers are divided into 2 groups by the companies, new and young workers who have been there for less than 10 years and older workers who have been there for 10 years plus. The new workers are being subcontracted out and are not allowed to join a trade union. These workers have very low wages and minimal job security. The FESC is trying to get funding to train these new workers and get them organized. Separate groups are also being picked out for sub-contraction, such as the cleaners, security etc. there are also many white unions within the telecommunications sector, acting as another obstacle to worker organization. Call centers, which began to open in Nicaragua 1 year ago, e g, ENITEL, are also causing new problems for union organization in this sector. Youth- all of the FESC workers we met were below 30 and one spoke English so the delegates were able to talk directly and have kept in touch since. d. Municipal government workers UNE, Federation of municipal workers in Carazo: The municipal government is trying to break down the unions by sacking union leaders and disrespecting the workers rights, although they are given a room to meet in. They feel that there are more problems with the Sandanista government than in the past but this is due to corrupt individuals within the municipal government and the labour ministry is now supporting workers in their struggle to resolve cases of unfair dismissal at municipal level. Municipal officer are used to 61 years of neo-liberal rule and their action remain the same as they were before, these officers need to be changed and government policy enforced The delegates mentioned that this is the same situation as in the UK, but the government is more subtle; local government meets with the trade unions and on the surface they have good relations but no action is ever actually taken to improve conditions or respond to workers demands. In the UK, they also try to create the image that unions are not effective so that workers don’t want to join, which in turn results in unions not being effective. The youth of today were not around in the 70´s and 80´s when the unions achieved a lot and therefore are lacking the same inspiration to get involved. Youth- There are few young people working in municipal government and the union are using sport to try and engage young members. We met 4 young members, two female, but they seemd rather shy in the presence of the union leaders. UNE, Federation of municipal workers in Managua (FETRAMUN): Consists of 11 trade unions, representing 2,000 workers. FETRAMUN were possibly the most political union we met, with strong support for the FSLN, detailing many of the FSLN positive policies in the meeting. FETRAMUN support the economic policies of the government as this supports the stability of their work. When they ask for wage increases they take the government budget into account. In the 2008 budget the mayor plans to build an expensive bridge in a shopping mall and FETRAMUN are trying to get the mayor to spend it on repairing the roads and increasing workers wages instead. They carry out training in the law of administrative careers and promotion and law 502 of municipal careers, this work is supported by UNISON. They are working to empower women through training and the development of a women’s committee and have 50% representation of women in union leadership but this is not passed up to the EC (only one in 15 of the EC are women). Youth - We met one of the most inspirational female young members at this meeting, who spoke openly about the abortion issues and the influence of the male leaders of the FNT in preventing action being taken on this. FETRAMUN said they feel lucky to be part of UNE as this gives them the opportunity to develop their work with women and youth, but so far they have had limited results in empowering youth or women within their leadership structures. e. University workers FESITUN (Federacion de Sindicatos de Trabajadores Universitarios): This federation of university workers consists of nine trade unions that represent administrative workers (and some teachers) in public and private universities. The universities are autonomous so the unions have strength. Sector history: The revolution in 1979 saw a 500% increase in university enrollment, increasing access for the poor. The government tried to privitise all universities in 1999 as they were a burden on the budget, passing the economic responsibility onto families and parents FESITUN have been involved in the fight for free education for the past 16 years; these struggles were violently repressed by the national police and one FESITUN union leader was killed. The National Union of Students was also very active in this fight and held a hunger strike for 13 days. The government has now implemented their demand but they do not believe the fight is over as many right wing MPs are trying to return to the policy of paid education. FESITUN’s current work includes increasing CBA´s, labour stability, increased wage rates, union freedom plus campaigns against water privitisation, promoting sexual diversity, environmental issues and anti-femicide and violence campaigns. They work to promote the idea of social investment rather than social expenditure within the government. They are also working to support local communities by offering education workshops on labour rights and international issues. Women’s committee structures and agendas are being developed in all 9 unions but women need to be encouraged to take more opportunity of the leading roles that are being opened for them. Youth- This sector has very few young employees. FESITUN aim to replace all union leaders with young members but the problem is motivating the youth; there are not enough active youth to fill the positions We met the FESITUN youth secretary and a few other youth coordinators but they were all over 25. Jennifer Forbes was interviewed for the FESITUN university radio broadcast, responding to questions on the aims of the trip, the issues for youth in the UK and plans for developing young member solidarity. The radio programme is one of their organizing tools, particularly among young members. 6. The therapeutic abortion ban Views from: * Gustavo Porras, ie, the FNT and FSLN stance Whilst stating that the FNT are against the therapeutic abortion ban (and Porras himself is actually pro-abortion), Porras argued that: - in 1979 the FSLN were the first to open the debate on women’s rights for the first time and these priorities remain within the party. - in a government survey when asked what was most important to them 97% of Nicaraguan women said God and religion. - social, cultural and religious forces that are opposing therapeutic abortion can not be ignored by the government - 80% of the population said they were against abortion (but not specifically therapeutic) - average education in Nicaragua is 4 years, which contributes greatly to the ignorance of the population around issues such as the therapeutic abortion ban - the ministry of health has issued clear guidelines on how the ban should be applied in practice to make sure that each case can be looked at individually based and allowing for emergency treatment (eg, in the case of ectopic pregnancy 3 doctors can decide together to do an abortion and sign a specific form to evade legal repercussions) - He believes that there have been no deaths directly related to the ban on therapeutic abortion, all deaths recorded have been due to other circumstances * FNT Women’s Committee - The women’s committee currently do not have a common view on the ban and have therefore not developed any action around it, they do however agree that it has been a major set back for the country and that they must reach a joint position. - They plan to include the topic in future education work to raise awareness on what the ban actually means as lack of education and awareness, particularly in respect to very poor sexual education in Nicaragua, is the main causal factor for the implementation of the ban. - They highlighted the fact that the women supporting the ban are rich and can simply pay for an abortion when needed, it’s the poor that have to suffer the consequences. * FNT women members -Most women members in the trade unions appear to be anti the therapeutic abortion ban when they speak openly about it, however, they are not able to talk openly about it due to the male domination in the unions. The female trade unionists are therefore limited in the action they can take to oppose the ban. - Most women are not aware of the issues, the patriarchal actions of their family, community, employers and government institutions leave women unaware that they have rights and are able to stand up for these. If you are abused as a women in all aspects of society you feel that this is how life is meant to be. For poor women the necessities of life are to provide for family and maintain their jobs, leaving them unable to consider the broader picture and take action * Maria Elena Cuadra (MEC)- Womens' rights organisations MEC is obviously completely against the therapeutic abortion ban and is outspoken in this opinion. They have supported national campaigns and protests against the ban and have worked in collaboration with other womens rights organizations. However, the campaign against the ban is not at the front of their current work as they are instead incorporating this into their wider work in support of women’s rights in Nicaragua, the ban being juts one, very serious violation of these rights. * Autonomous Women’s Movement (AWM) Violeta Delgado was the most outspoken women we met, in regards to the ban on therapeutic abortion. They are actively campaigning against the ban and have instigated a number of protests in collaboration with the Red de Mujeres contra la violencia. They also work closely with the MRS, who are the only political party who have opposed the ban in Nicaragua. They are currently working on an international demand/ statement opposing the ban to be sent to the government and their national and international networks. They are hoping to get a number of signatories to this statement, in particular all the individual organizations of the Red de Mujeres, however, they are not prepared to dilute this statement to gain more signatories. When completed this statement will be put up on their website - www.movimientoautonomodemujeres.com Actions we can take (suggested by Violeta): -Make our opinions know to other organizations within Nicaragua, for example the FNT and Gustavo Porras, and let them know that we are not prepared to be accomplices to this abuse of women’s rights -Make our concerns known to the Nicaraguan government via the foreign office, ministers and embassies in the UK, and also via the UN if possible. -There is a German organization called ‘ I decide about my rights’ who have been very active on this campaign so Violeta suggested that we make links with them. * Coordinadora Civil (CC) The CC are against the ban, the Red de Mujeres and other key organizations that have opposed it being members of the CC. They believe that the government relation to the hierarchy of the church has lead to many regressions, ie the govt have not promoted sexual health education, which has lead to pregnancy, HIV problems and lack of awareness of the issues around therapeutic abortion. |
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