TUC letter to new Paraguayan President

Mr Horacio Cartes
President
Republic of Paraguay

Dear President Cartes

Solidarity message from the Trades Union Congress to the CUT-A and CNT

I am writing on behalf of the Trades Union Congress, the 6 million members of our affiliated unions and British workers to express our support for the Paraguayan trade union centres the CUT-A and CNT who together with social movements are organising a joint congress and a mobilisation on the 3 and 4 of September respectively.

The longstanding policy of repression of the trade union movement in Paraguay by employers and successive governments is well known worldwide. The basic human right to form and join trade unions appears to have almost totally disregarded. This non-respect reached unprecedented levels during the de facto government of Federico Franco when even the limited legislation on trade union rights was repealed at the request of employers.

Furthermore the almost total absence of collective bargaining agreements in the country reflects the lack of compliance with ILO Convention 98, ratified by Paraguay in the early 1960s. This is in contrast to your neighbouring countries, Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil, where between 60 and 90 per cent of workers are covered by such agreements. In Paraguay, only 2 per cent of the working population are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We believe that in your country, as in ours, the expansion of collective bargaining agreements would help in the fight against poverty.

We believe that now is the time for your recently inaugurated government to effectively implement two of the basic human rights without which genuine democracy cannot exist: trade union freedom and the right to collective bargaining.

With regard to the other calls being made by the trade unions in Paraguay, in particular the establishment of a fair wage policy, we would like to reiterate the fact that economic growth is not synonymous with increased equality and wellbeing. According to the ILO although the Paraguayan economy has experience welcome growth, 81 per cent of workers are still work in the informal economy. We believe that your economic policy should be based on the ECLAC principle: 'grow to equalise and equalising to grow' as demonstrated in Paraguay's neighbouring countries. A decent minimum wage policy in tandem with collective bargaining constitutes a formidable tool to combat poverty.

Job creation and improved workers' rights should go together. This could be assisted with the creation of a development bank that would help small and medium enterprises that account for 60 per cent of jobs in Latin America.

Mr President, you are also aware of your country's prevailing deficit in terms of social security, in particular because the Paraguayan government's mandatory contribution to the national social welfare institution is outstanding since 1943. Social security and access to adequate systems of social protection is a human right which should be available to all.

As part of the international trade union movement we will continue to closely monitor your government's management of these issues and in particular, the difficulties faced by Paraguayan trade unions in their efforts to function fully as an institution within a democratic society.

Yours sincerely

Frances O'Grady

General Secretary