25 June, 2013Nowhere is the expression ‘justice delayed, justice denied’ more true than in the case of the Texpop Corporation in Peru.
When 129 workers were dismissed four years ago for joining a union, it appeared to be an open and shut case: The manager had openly warned workers not to join a union, and when they did they were barred from returning to work, and this just one day after the company had advertised job vacancies for the very positions the dismissed workers had occupied.
Yet four years later, following countless appeals, rulings and resolutions, the company still stubbornly refuses to uphold the decision of the courts and reinstate the 129 workers who were dismissed in blatant violation of the right of freedom of association.
Unfortunately, the behaviour of the Texpop Corporation is not uncommon in Peru, where over 80,000 textile and garment workers producing fashionable apparel mainly for the US market are employed on unlimited short-term contracts under the country’s notorious legislation governing ‘non-traditional exports’.
IndustriALL Global Union has written to the company demanding that it comply with the latest court ruling and immediately reinstate the dismissed workers with the payment of lost wages. The employers’ associations Adex and SNI have been urged to do what they can to bring the Texpop into line.