Deliberate Indifference:
El Salvador’s Failure to Protect Workers’ Rights

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. SUMMARY
   
   
2. PRINCIPAL RECOMMENDATIONS
   
   
3. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION UNDER INTERNATIONAL LAW
   
   
4. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION UNDER DOMESTIC LAW
   
   Weak Labor Laws
   
   Inadequate Protections against Anti-Union Suspensions and Dismissals
   No Explicit Protection against Anti-Union Discrimination in Hiring
   Obstacles to Union Registration
   
   Legal Loopholes
   
   Forced Resignations to Circumvent Labor Law Protections
   Suspensions to Circumvent Labor Law Protections
   
   
5. MINISTRY OF LABOR FAILURE TO ENFORCE LABOR LAWS
   
   Legal Obligations of the Labor Inspectorate
   
   Failure to Allow Worker Participation in Inspection Visits
   Failure to Provide Workers Copies of Inspection Results
   Failure to Enforce Inspection Orders and Impose Sanctions
   Failure to Rule on Alleged Violations and Misapplication of the Law
   
   Participation in Labor Law Violations: Granting Illegal Employer Requests
   Obstacles to Union Registration
   Deprivation of Access to Health Care
   
   
6. OBSTACLES TO JUDICIAL ENFORCEMENT OF LABOR LAW
   
   
7. CASE STUDIES
   
   Lido, S.A. de C.V.
   Confecciones Ninos, S.A. de C.V.
   El Salvador International Airport
   Anthony Fashion Corporation, S.A. de C.V.
   Río Lempa Hydroelectric Executive Commission
   
   Mario Roberto Carranza Hernández
   Other Dismissals of STSEL Union Members and Leaders
   Formation of a Parallel Union
   
   Industry Union of Communications Workers
   
   Criteria for an Industry-Wide Union
   Minimum Number of Workers to Form a Union
   
   Tainan El Salvador, S.A. de C.V., and the Salvadoran Social Security Institute
   
   Tainan El Salvador, S.A. de C.V.
   
   Failure of Labor Inspections to Follow Proper Procedures
   Complicity in Labor Law Violations: Granting Illegal Employer Requests
   
   Salvadoran Social Security Institute
   
   Failure of Labor Inspections to Follow Proper Procedures
   
   
8. CORPORATE TIES TO SALVADORAN FACTORIES
   
   Distributor of Lido, S.A. de C.V., Products
   Corporations Supplied by Confecciones Ninos, S.A. de C.V.
   Corporations Supplied by Anthony Fashion Corporation, S.A. de C.V.
   Corporations Supplied by Tainan El Salvador, S.A. de C.V.
   
   
9. U.S. TRADE AND AID POLICIES IN EL SALVADOR AND THE U.S.-CENTRAL AMERICA FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
   
   U.S. Development Assistance
   
   RELACENTRO
   The Ministry of Labor’s Monitoring Unit
   PROALCA
   
   The U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement
   
   Adequacy of Labor Laws
   Enforcement of Labor Laws
   
   
10. RECOMMENDATIONS
    
    To the Government of El Salvador
    
    Legal Reforms to Close Legislative Loopholes
    
    To the United States and Central America in the Negotiation of CAFTA
    
    
11. CONCLUSION
    
    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    
    APPENDIX: RESPONSE LETTERS FROM SALVADORAN EMPLOYERS AND U.S.-BASED COMPANIES

December 2003      Vol. 15, No. 5(B)