ICFTU OnLine
256/241198/DD

Brussels. November 24 1998 (ICFTU Info): A new ICFTU report issued today says that some multinational companies operating in Uruguay systematically discriminate against employees who are union members.

One such company is Lloyds Bank which, at various times in recent years, only granted salary increases or bonuses to non-union members. The International Labour Organisation has concluded that this case is in clear contravention of ILO Convention 98 (on the Right to Organise) as well as being against the country’s own Constitution which provides for freedom of association in trade unions.

The ICFTU has produced its report on labour standards in Uruguay to complement the World Trade Organisation’s trade review (out on November 25), and has found that although in general, the country respects trade union rights, there are some areas which need to be improved.

It has found that trade union organisers are still dismissed, and the companies concerned produce tortuous explanations to explain why this is legally acceptable. Another problem facing workers is that although the government allows them the right to strike (enshrined in ILO Convention 98), it may legally compel them to work during a strike if they perform an essential service, and it has banned strikes by ruling that they fall into this category. For example in August 1995, it stopped a health workers’ strike for this reason, although the union had taken steps to ensure that a minimum service would be provided.

Although women make up almost half the work force (40%), and discrimination based on race, sex, religion or disability is outlawed, they still face discrimination, and are concentrated in lower paying jobs. In some sectors, for example, textiles, wage scales are specifically differentiated according to sex, and in the National Board of Electrical Power Stations and Distribution (UTE), different social security standards are applied to women, who receive lower voluntary redundancy benefits than men.

The country’s black minority, which makes up roughly 5 % of the population also faces discrimination, as, according to the government's own research, out of a total black population of 150,000, there were only 65 black university graduates in 1993. This means that black people are, in effect, excluded from better-paid employment, and the ILO has asked the government to provide more information on racial, or ethnic discrimination.

Although the country's free, compulsory primary education is taken up and completed by 95% of children - one of the highest rates in the developing world - many children work as street vendors, or in agriculture. At 14, Uruguay's minimum age for employment, is below international norms, and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has said that Uruguay must improve measures to prevent child labour, particularly among the most vulnerable groups of children, ie black, disabled, or those who are victims of ill-treatment.

In fact the government itself is taking steps to tackle the problem, and is working with the Inter-American Development Bank to take preventive actions to stop poorer children being forced to drop out of school.

The ICFTU says that in order to comply with core trade union rights, the Uruguayan government must take action to ensure that multinational companies do not discriminate against trade unionists, and that companies cannot get away with dismissing trade union leaders. The ICFTU also says that the government should redefine its own excessively broad definition of "essential services".

The ICFTU says that the government must take positive steps to overcome discrimination against women workers, and against the black population, and should help to stamp out child labour by raising the minimum age for employment to 15.

The ICFTU is calling on the WTO to make sure that the Uruguayan government keeps the promises it made to the WTO in 1996, and in 1998 to respect core labour standards and says that the International Labour Organisation should assist with this.

The full ICFTU report can be found on the ICFTU's Website on: http://www.icftu.org/english/sclause/escl98wtouruguay.html