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19 December, 1999After laying off the total workforce, ARMET acts illegally by offering only partial compensation.
ECUADOR: The total workforce of 40 employees at ARMET, a company manufacturing bronze plumbing fixtures, was laid off on October 4, 1999, with no advance notice, shortly before collective bargaining was due to start up. All employees were organised in the "Comité de Empresa 24 de Julio" trade union -- a member of the IMF-affiliated Ecuadorian Federation of Workers in the Metal, Mine and Related Industries (FETIM).
Since then, and adding to the distress of the workforce, management has declared it would pay only 40% of the unemployment compensation to which the workers are entitled and that this payment would be made in installments over a period of six months -- all this being illegal. As of December 14, the workers had not received any pay for three months. When the local trade union, with the support of FETIM, appealed to the ministry of labour, their plea was finally rejected, even though conditions for compensation are laid out in law as well as in the collective contract.
As a result, the local union and FETIM have organised a permanent 24-hour sit-in, in order to inform the general public about management's actions, prevent the plant from reopening and to demand ARMET either reinstate all workers or pay them 100% compensation to which they have a right by law.
Since then, and adding to the distress of the workforce, management has declared it would pay only 40% of the unemployment compensation to which the workers are entitled and that this payment would be made in installments over a period of six months -- all this being illegal. As of December 14, the workers had not received any pay for three months. When the local trade union, with the support of FETIM, appealed to the ministry of labour, their plea was finally rejected, even though conditions for compensation are laid out in law as well as in the collective contract.
As a result, the local union and FETIM have organised a permanent 24-hour sit-in, in order to inform the general public about management's actions, prevent the plant from reopening and to demand ARMET either reinstate all workers or pay them 100% compensation to which they have a right by law.