Investigation promised into abuses against dockers’ union in Honduras

Victor Crespo, leader of the Sindicato Gremial de Trabajadores del Muelle (SGTM), joined ITF president and chair of the dockers’ section Paddy Crumlin, acting general secretary Steve Cotton and maritime coordinator Tomas Abrahamson, in a meeting with the Honduran Ambassador to the UK in London on Thursday (March 20).

Meanwhile members of the ITF dockers’ section committee representing port workers worldwide, held a demonstration outside the embassy calling for ‘negotiation not intimidation’.

SGTM members have been subject to a catalogue of human and trade union rights abuses in Puerto Cortés, where global terminal operator ICTSI won the concession to run the port in September 2012. The union has been trying to negotiate with the company’s subsidiary in Honduras over a collective bargaining agreement for workers.

To date Victor Crespo has been forced to flee Honduras after attempts on his life; his father was then killed under suspicious circumstances. Union members were arrested and charged with terrorism after peaceful protests in the port in February. Most recently Honduran police visited SGTM headquarters looking for members who participated in a legal and peaceful protest organised by the ILWU at an ICTSI operated terminal in Portland, USA.

On the steps of the embassy on Thursday Crumlin said: “We have had a productive, open and frank conversation. The Ambassador has agreed that there should be an investigation into the abuses of trade union rights, and human rights being reported in Puerto Cortés. We have all agreed, all of us, that engagement from all sides is essential if we’re to bring about an end to this situation.”

There’s a call to ITF unions to organise their own actions at Honduran embassies over the coming days and weeks to demonstrate the ongoing solidarity with brothers and sisters facing oppression in Honduras.

Find out more: www.sosvictor.org