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REPORTS: LABOUR |
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Discrimination
at Work a Major Problem in Central America
By:
Péfer
Muñoz
SAN JOSE, (IPS) - Persecution of labour
activists, ''black lists'' drawn up by
employers, and lower wages paid to women
are just a few of the forms of labour
discrimination suffered by groups like
trade unionists, women, indigenous people,
the disabled, and immigrants in Central
America.
In the 1990s, the peace accords that put
an end to civil strife in several Central
American countries contained blueprints
for building societies that offered people
new opportunities. But discrimination at
work remains rampant in Central America,
one of the poorest, most unequal regions
in the world.
Experts consulted by IPS expressed their
concern with the outlook in the seven
countries of Central America: Belize,
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, where the
situation in the labour markets does
little to help break the vicious cycle of
poverty.
''The peace agreements gave the region a
big initial boost, but the problem since
then has been enforcing the new laws'' and
commitments that emerged from the accords,
Enrique Brú, International Labour
Organisation (ILO) director in Central
America, told IPS.
The labour discrimination suffered by
members of minority ethnic groups, women,
the disabled, people living with HIV/AIDS,
and older workers is on the rise around
the world, according to an ILO report,
''Time for Equality at Work'', released on
May 12.
The report blames the continuing
discrimination on ''prejudices,
stereotypes and biases that have resisted
decades of legal efforts and policy
measures enacted by governments, workers
and employers against unequal treatment at
work.''
In its references to Central America, the
study paints a dismal picture of
conditions in this region of 36 million,
whose workforce is comprised of 14 million
people, most of whom live in poverty.
''We are concerned about the persecution
of trade union leaders, and the fact that
private companies draw up 'black lists' of
people not to hire,'' said Brú, a
Uruguayan.
Women, indigenous people and disabled
persons are other groups that suffer
labour discrimination in the region,
according to the regional ILO office.
The report's first mention of
discrimination in Central America refers
to indigenous people in Guatemala, who
form a majority of the impoverished
nation's population of 12 million, and who
are subject to heavy discrimination, with
no capacity to mount a collective
response.
The study also notes that in Costa Rica,
the disabled earn wages 11.5 percent lower
on average than other workers doing the
same jobs.
But ''the forms of labour discrimination
are changing,'' Christian Ramos, an ILO
expert on international labour law,
commented to IPS.
In the past, discrimination at work was
based mainly on a person's ethnicity, skin
colour, religious beliefs, political
views, or nationality, said Ramos.
But new, more subtle forms of workplace
discrimination are emerging, against the
elderly, the disabled, people of different
sexual orientations, or HIV-carriers, he
pointed out.
Civil society organisations that have
studied labour rights in the region have
reached similar conclusions.
''If is very difficult for someone living
with HIV/AIDS to reveal that they have the
virus, because they risk losing their
jobs, being stigmatised, or losing their
friends,'' said Guillermo Murillo, an
HIV-carrier and the assistant director of
Agua Buena, one of the leading
organisations in the region that defend
the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS.
The Women's Forum for Central American
Integration (FMIC) showed IPS a study that
demonstrates that women tend to have
access to low-paid, poor-quality jobs in
Central America.
The study, ''Quality of Employment for
Central American Women'', which is based
on official statistics from 2001, shows
that women earn 30 percent less on average
than men doing similar jobs, and 40
percent less in some countries.
The FMIC groups 75 organisations of rural
women, black women, indigenous women,
academics and female workers.
''The trends demonstrate that job
conditions for women are only getting
worse,'' said Epsy Campbell, an FMIC
delegate, and a congresswoman representing
the Citizen Action Party in the Costa
Rican Congress.
The ILO also underlined the growing
participation of women in the labour
market in the region. In Guatemala, for
example, they made up 28 percent of the
economically active population in 1990 and
45.6 percent in 2000.
According to the FMIC study, women in
Costa Rica earned 22 percent less on
average than men doing the same jobs in
2001 -- the smallest gender-based gap in
wages in the region.
The biggest gaps were seen in Nicaragua
and Honduras, where women earned 39 and 40
percent less than men, respectively.
People who face labour discrimination are
often pushed into the informal sector,
where 4.3 million workers -- nearly
one-third of the region's labour force --
are currently active.
Informal economy workers lack labour
rights, as well as social security and
other benefits.
Human rights activists point to the
paradox that economic, social and cultural
rights have been deteriorating instead of
improving since the armed conflicts that
racked the region -- in El Salvador,
Guatemala and Nicaragua -- came to an end.
Economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to work, are the
categories of human rights that are most
widely violated in Central America,
Guatemalan sociologist Byron Barillas told
IPS.
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