14 February, 2011
The cement workers’ union, Sintraincehsa, an affiliate of the Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), wrote to the chief labour inspector of the Ministry of Labour in Honduras, Selvin Ramón Martínez, on 21 January to decry the union-busting tactics of local management. The union accused French-based Lafarge of breach of the collective agreement, national and international labour legislation, and the Global Framework Agreement signed by ICEM, BWI, and Lafarge.
Local management of Lafarge Cementos in the city of Comayagua have arbitrarily begun alcohol and drug testing on employees as a means to sack union leaders. The tests are not observed by a third party and were initiated without consultation with the union.
Sintraincehsa requests that inspectors from the Ministry of Labour oversee the testing. The union asked management in June 2010 to work together with it in cases where workers were found to be breaking rules on alcohol and drugs. The union wants to rehabilitate and educate those failing drug or alcohol tests.
However, since December 2010, management has increased its unilateral testing, without agreement or dialogue with the union. Sintraincehsa says that this is the latest tactic in the company’s union-busting campaign, which has seen membership of the union decrease five-fold in recent years. Local management continues to outsource jobs, with 23 sub-contracting firms now operating on site, jobs Sintraincehsa says should be held by direct and permanently employed workers of Lafarge Cementos.
Sintraincehsa and Lafarge Cementos have had a collective agreement in place since March 2005.