The Cedar Lounge Revolution

Every now and again we are subjected to the notion that trade unions are past their sell-by date. Some right-wing commentators will generously acknowledge that there was a time in the unenlightened past when associations of workers were not necessarily alliances of the unemployable and the undesirable but fulfilled some vaguely useful function in society for people deprived of the benefits of a UCD or Trinity education.

Numbers of people joining trade unions might be increasing in strictly numerical terms, especially among migrant workers, but as a proportion of the workforce the unions are losing strength, particularly in the private sector, young people and contract workers. These days, being a member of a trade union is not necessarily a radical or revolutionary act. It’s not even a political act in most cases.

But it is occasionally worth reminding ourselves that many are without the ‘advantages’ of the tolerance extended to trade unions by the political and business establishment in Ireland.

And so we turn to the Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights, published by the International Trade Union Confederation. Last year 144 trade unionists were murdered, up from 115 in 2005. More than 800 were beaten or tortured. Just under 5,000 were arrested and more than 8,000 dismissed. All as a result of trade union activity.

A couple of examples:

“On 15 August, Martha Cecilia Díaz Suárez, President of the association of departmental workers, ASTDEMP, was approached by unknown assailants in a private vehicle who, after intimidating her and claiming that they were holding one of her daughters, forced her to enter the vehicle. They took her to an unknown location where she was tortured and interrogated about the trade union activities carried out by herself and her colleagues. She was released with bruises on her face and traces of two bullets that had skimmed her stomach.” (Colombia)

“On 6 June, the body of Luis Antonio Arismendi Pico was found in Zipacón, Department of Cundinamarca. He had been missing since 28 April, after leaving his workplace in Bogotá, along with Mrs Belquis Dayana Goyeneche, who is also missing. He was the president of the local food and drink workers’ and vendors’ union, the Sindicato “Manuela Beltrán” de Trabajadores y Expendedores de Alimentos y Bebidas de la Plaza de Mercado del Barrio San Francisco (SINDIMANUELABELTRAN).” (Colombia)

“On 9 August, Professor Germán Mendoza Nube, a member of Local 22 of the CNTE, a founder of the Teachers Commission for Human Rights (COMADH) and a leader of the Popular Revolutionary Front (FPR), was arrested on his way home and brutally beaten despite being in a wheelchair. The arrest was carried out by more than 30 plainclothes officers of the Ministerial Police.” (Mexico)

“On 27 April, as he left his organisation’s office in the Al-Mansur quarter of Bagdad, Thabet Hussein Ali, the leader of the health workers union, was abducted by a group of terrorists. His bullet-ridden corpse was discovered the day after his abduction. He was carrying signs of severe torture, including wounds caused by an electric drill.” (Iraq)

I’ve focussed in on the most shocking part of the report, the deaths of trade unionists. But the bulk of the report, and of particular interest that section dealing with Europe, is a country by country analysis of existing labour legislation, restrictions on union rights, actions taken against strikes and so on. Rather curiously, Ireland is excluded from the European list but our British neighbours made the grade.

Video footage and pictures here.