International Transport Workers Call For Action Against Honduran Ships To Protest Honduras Coup
http://www.itfglobal.org/press-area/index.cfm/pressdetail/3512
Honduras ship action declared (También en version española)
17 July 2009
The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) today called for all its union members to oppose the coup in Honduras by focusing protests on the Honduran merchant fleet.
The global union organisation, which represents 656 unions worldwide with four and a half million members, has made the call as its latest move to defend democracy in the coup-stricken Central American nation, and in support of the Organization of American States’ (OAS) condemnation of the military takeover. The action call is likely to affect the loading and unloading of the 650 ships flying the Honduran flag, which the ITF considers a flag of convenience – a low cost cosmetic ship registration by companies with no link to the country and no intention of employing its citizens onboard.
ITF General Secretary David Cockroft stated: “We have to put real pressure on the Honduran military to allow the country to revert to democracy. We are therefore calling on our member unions to consider taking lawful action to defend the rights of the citizens of Honduras. That is likely to include protests that centre on Honduran ships. All such actions will be peaceful, will respect the rights of the seafarers on the ships, but will send a clear message to those in authority – for now – in Honduras, that the outside world does not accept their seizure of power.”
Following the coup the ITF mobilised trade unionists in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua, after its member unions within Honduras asked it to help them by organising peaceful demonstrations at its borders with the three neighbouring countries. The Federation has also sent a message to the OAS Secretary General and the President of the Honduran Congress to declare the military’s action illegal and indefensible, and issued an urgent action alert to its member trade unions asking for their support in backing those trying to reestablish democracy in the country. The alert also mobilises the ITF’s worldwide membership to protest against the illegal grab of power and seek the support of their own governments.
ITF Inter-Americas Regional Secretary Antonio Rodriguez Fritz commented: “The situation in Honduras is bad and getting worse, with violent military attacks on demonstrations, two trade unionists killed and others in hiding from arrest. We’re also fearful of the future, based on the experience of the 1970s and 80s, when similar economic and military groupings used death squads to repress dissent and murder trade unionists.”
He continued: “The Organization of American States has made itself clear. It condemned the Coup and called for the reinstallation of democracy and has now suspended Honduras from membership.”
ENDS
17 de Julio de 2009. Para divulgación inmediata
Se declara una acción contra los buques de bandera de Honduras
La ITF (Federación Internacional de los trabajadores del Transporte) hizo un llamado hoy a todos sus sindicatos afiliados para resistir contra el golpe de estado de Honduras, enfocando sus protestas contra la flota mercante de ese país.
La Federación Sindical Internacional, que afilia a 656 sindicatos a nivel mundial que representan a cuatro millones y medio de afiliados y afiliadas, ha hecho éste llamado como una de sus mas recientes acciones para defender la democracia en la nación centroamericana que ha sufrido un golpe de estado, así como en apoyo de la resolución de condena contra el golpe militar que ha emitido la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA). El llamado a tomar acciones tendría un efecto en las operaciones de carga y descarga de los 650 buques que ondean la bandera de Honduras, la cual es considerada por la ITF como una bandera de conveniencia –un registro marítimo de bajo costo que es utilizado por algunas empresas sin que exista un vínculo genuino con el país y que ni siquiera tiene la intención de emplear marinos Hondureños a bordo.
El Secretario General de la ITF David Cockroft declaró: “tenemos que ejercer presión efectiva contra las fuerzas armadas de Honduras para permitir que retorne la democracia. Debido a ello estamos invitando a todos nuestros afiliados a que consideren implementar toda clase de acciones dentro del marco legal para defender los derechos de los y las Ciudadanas de Honduras. Consideramos que estas acciones se van a enfocar en los buques de bandera de Honduras. Todas las acciones deben de ser pacíficas, ciertamente se respetarán siempre los derechos de los Marinos que laboran a bordo de esos buques, pero al mismo tiempo mandará un mensaje claro a las autoridades, que temporalmente están al frente del gobierno, de Honduras: El mundo no acepta ni reconoce esa ilegal toma de gobierno
Inmediatamente después del golpe de estado, la ITF moviliza a sus sindicatos afiliados de El Salvador, Guatemala y Nicaragua, a pedido de sus afiliados Hondureños quienes solicitaron que se organizaran manifestaciones pacificas en las fronteras con los tres países. La Federación también envió un mensaje al Secretario General de la OEA y al Presidente del Congreso de Honduras, en el cual declaraba que la acción militar era ilegal y totalmente indefensible, y emitió una alerta urgente a sus sindicatos afiliados para solicitarles su apoyo hacia todos/as los que luchan para restaurar la democracia en ese país. La alerta movilizó a sus sindicatos afiliados a nivel mundial para protestar en contra del golpe de estado ilegal, buscando además el apoyo de sus propios gobiernos contra ese acto.
El Secretario Regional de ITF-Américas Antonio Rodríguez Fritz comentó: “La situación en Honduras está muy mal y continúa empeorando, se están efectuando ataques militares en contra de las manifestaciones, hay registros de al menos dos sindicalistas asesinados y hay otros escondidos en contra de los cuales hay ordenes de aprehensión. Estamos muy preocupados además de lo que pueda pasar en el futuro, basados en las experiencias de los años 70’s y 80’s, cuando grupos militares similares utilizaron escuadrones de la muerte para reprimir disidentes y asesinar dirigentes sindicales”
Igualmente añadió: La Organización de Estados Americanos ha sido muy clara. Condenó el Golpe de Estado e hizo un llamado para restaurar la democracia, incluso ha suspendido a Honduras de ese importante organismo”
FIN
For more information contact ITF press officer, Sam Dawson.
Direct line: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260.
Email: dawson_sam@itf.org.uk
International Transport Workers' Federation - ITF:
HEAD OFFICE
ITF House, 49 - 60 Borough Road, London SE1 1DS
Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7403 2733
Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7375 7871
Email: mail@itf.org.uk
Web: www.itfglobal.org
UA 399 Plumbers Call For Defense Of Honduran Trade Unionists And Democracy
TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT TRADE UNIONISTS AND DEFEND DEMOCRACY IN HONDURAS
Adopted by Plumbers and Steamfitters UA Local 393 in San Jose, CA 7/8/09
WHEREAS: the AFL-CIO has expressed solidarity with the three union
federations of Honduras -- the Unitary Central of Honduran Workers (CUTH),
the Confederation of Honduran Workers (CTH) and the General Workers Central
(CGT) - and with the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA),
representing over 45 million workers of this hemisphere, in condemning the
military coup that resulted in the illegal ouster of democratically-elected
President Manuel Zelaya; and
WHEREAS: the AFL-CIO has denounced the coup as an unconscionable attack on
the fundamental rights and liberties of the Honduran peopleŠin flagrant
violation of the most basic democratic principles and of the rule of law
and has called upon the U.S. government and the international community,
particularly the Organization of American States and the United Nations, not
only to condemn the coup and withhold recognition of the current government,
but to make every effort to help achieve restitution of constitutional order
and reinstatement of the democratically elected president; and
WHEREAS: the AFL-CIO reports reliable eyewitness testimony that the
thousands of people from civil society organizations, including trade
unions, who assemble to demand that democratic order be restored and the
president returned, have been tear-gassed by the armed forces, with many
injured and arrested. Late word (7/7/09) is that two protesters have been
killed, death squads are threatening activists and media people, lists have
been reported of trade union leaders who are under threat and whose safety
is at risk and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney has called upon the Obama
administration to do all it can within its diplomatic powers to ensure that
all Hondurans, particularly trade unionists and social activists denouncing
the coup, are safe, secure and will not be victimized by violence and
repression; and
WHEREAS: The coup was led, on behalf of the corporate and financial elite,
by Gen. Romeo Vasquez Velazquez and Gen. Luis Javier Prince Suazo, graduates of the
School of the Americas which the AFL-CIO has in the past said should be
closed as "a relic of a past era of violence" that "undermines U.S.
government efforts" by "training of Latin American officers in practices
which have led to the violation of human rights" and "is out of step with
the emerging climate of democracy and human rights throughout the region;"
and
WHEREAS: It is longstanding AFL-CIO policy that "No U.S. military assistance
shall be provided to any country practicing terror against its own people."
Therefore Be It RESOLVED that we call upon President Barack Obama to take
immediate action to cut off all military, development and economic aid to Honduras
Until President Manuel Zelaya is restored to his democratically elected office, to
then support bringing the coup plotters to justice and to investigate, and take
appropriate action against, any U. S. official who may have been involved in this
criminal, violent, and internationally destabilizing assault on democracy: and
Be It FURTHER RESOLVED that we ask for concurrence in this resolution on the
Part of the Labor Councils to which we are affiliated, the California Labor Federation,
the U. A., and the AFL-CIO, and that we send this resolution to the President and to
our Senators and Representatives in Congress.