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CWA Letters, Aid Help Rebuild El Salvador Telephone Union
More than 6,000 telephone workers in El Salvador have reached a breakthrough in their three-year fight to unionize, thanks in part to CWA’s efforts on their behalf.
France Telecom, which co-owns El Salvador’s only phone company, CTE-Telecom, has agreed to recognize the union, known as SUTTEL, and reinstate people who were fired for union activities.
CWA members helped by launching a letter and e-mail campaign, coordinated by the union’s international affairs office, which put pressure on France Telecom. CWA also made several thousand dollars in donations to SUTTEL each of the last three years through the Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union program.
“The SUTTEL leaders told me that without CWA support and encouragement, it would have been very difficult for them to continue their fight,” said Luis Neves, head of the Telecoms department for Union Network International, which aids workers globally in their struggle to organize.
The French company, which works cooperatively with strong unions in France, bought CTE-Telecom three years ago, changing it from a public to private company. In the process, the union was ousted. Workers have been trying to rebuild it ever since.
They continued their fight, even as the company fired union leaders and targeted other members, said Carrie Biggs-Adams, CWA representative for international affairs. Last fall, she said, El Salvador’s top court ruled that the workers had the right to unionize. A week later, SUTTEL elected union officers and applied for union papers from the government, which protect workers from being fired for union activities.
But France Telecom put pressure on the government not to issue the papers, and none came. Meanwhile, the global campaign to help SUTTEL was heating up. French unions were pressuring France Telecom and the U.S. Embassy was pressuring El Salvador’s government.
In March, the union got its papers and met with the company, along with Neves, from UNI, and representatives from the French unions. The company agreed not to interfere with organizing, not to discriminate, to rehire fired workers and to put certain health and safety policies into practice.
“These were absolutely courageous people,” Biggs-Adams said. “Think about it. When you take on union activities here, you don’t get fired — or if you do, you’ve got a good shot at getting your job back. These folks were up against a huge company and their own government.”
France Telecom, which co-owns El Salvador’s only phone company, CTE-Telecom, has agreed to recognize the union, known as SUTTEL, and reinstate people who were fired for union activities.
CWA members helped by launching a letter and e-mail campaign, coordinated by the union’s international affairs office, which put pressure on France Telecom. CWA also made several thousand dollars in donations to SUTTEL each of the last three years through the Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union program.
“The SUTTEL leaders told me that without CWA support and encouragement, it would have been very difficult for them to continue their fight,” said Luis Neves, head of the Telecoms department for Union Network International, which aids workers globally in their struggle to organize.
The French company, which works cooperatively with strong unions in France, bought CTE-Telecom three years ago, changing it from a public to private company. In the process, the union was ousted. Workers have been trying to rebuild it ever since.
They continued their fight, even as the company fired union leaders and targeted other members, said Carrie Biggs-Adams, CWA representative for international affairs. Last fall, she said, El Salvador’s top court ruled that the workers had the right to unionize. A week later, SUTTEL elected union officers and applied for union papers from the government, which protect workers from being fired for union activities.
But France Telecom put pressure on the government not to issue the papers, and none came. Meanwhile, the global campaign to help SUTTEL was heating up. French unions were pressuring France Telecom and the U.S. Embassy was pressuring El Salvador’s government.
In March, the union got its papers and met with the company, along with Neves, from UNI, and representatives from the French unions. The company agreed not to interfere with organizing, not to discriminate, to rehire fired workers and to put certain health and safety policies into practice.
“These were absolutely courageous people,” Biggs-Adams said. “Think about it. When you take on union activities here, you don’t get fired — or if you do, you’ve got a good shot at getting your job back. These folks were up against a huge company and their own government.”