Ecuador: Public sector trade unions make a stand
Ecuador is experiencing political developments that deeply affect public sector workers. Proposed reforms by the government reflect negative perceptions about public sector institutions, employment and trade unionism.
The new Ecuadorian Constitution, adopted by referendum on 28 September 2008, proposes a kind of strong state and protector of the rights of people and the environment. At the same time, however, the Constitution opens the door for the removal of the trade union and collective bargaining rights of public sector workers.
In response to this difficult situation, PSI affiliates in Ecuador organised a Forum entitled “The Public Sector and the Proposed New Constitution”, on September 12, in order to consider and discuss the position of public sector trade unions in relation to labour and trade union rights.
This triggered a process that culminated in the formation of the ‘National Coordination of Public Sector Unions’; a group that consists of eleven trade unions, including two PSI affiliates: FETRALME and FENOCOPRE (representing municipal and provincial government workers). The PSI office in Quito has taken on the role of technical secretariat to the Coordinating Group, in order to
support the unions in their goal of confronting, in a unified way, the government’s intentions to ignore the most fundamental of principles and rights at work: the right to collective bargaining and the international conventions of the ILO.
The Coordinating Group has conducted two activities that demonstrate the growing strength and unity of the public sector trade union movement. The first was a symbolic act to commemorate the day, on 15 November 1922, when police forces massacred striking workers in the city of Guayaquil.
The second was a day of protest on 26 November 2008. Trade unions called on the government and the new National Assembly to open a space for social dialogue that will bring all public sector trade unions and the Ecuadorian government to the table, to agree how best to move forward to a climate which guarantees the full exercise of trade union rights and allows workers to participate in the
development of laws and policies governing the sector.
In its manifesto to civil society the Coordinating Group raised the following:
- Quality public services are essential to democratic and fair societies;
- Public sector workers contribute to the material and social conditions which sustain life and development of the people;
- The right to organise and bargain collectively is a fundamental pillar in building quality public services.
- An appeal to solidarity, including unity in the struggle of trade unions and civil society organisations to defend labour rights, public services, public goods, public institutions and public enterprises.
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