Labor militants gain traction over high prices, low wages

Restaurant workers' union whose legal status has been blocked by the Torrijos administration. Photo by Eric Jackson

High prices, low wages give militant unions and left political traction
by Eric Jackson

On March 13 some often feuding unions and leftist organizations joined forces for a march on the presidential palace to press a series of demands --- which the government as expected ignored.

In the wake of the February police shooting of the unarmed SUNTRACS construction workers union activist Al Iromi Smith at the entrance to the Policlinica Hugo Spadafora when he went there to seek medical attention for a birdshot wound a subsequent series of police invasions of several other hospitals and clinics, various unions in the public health care sector called for March 6 protests to register their objections to the attacks and to what they allege are government moves to privatize health care.

But the FRENADESO labor/left umbrella group, which is more or less dominated by the November 29th National Liberation Movement (MLN-29, a semi-underground Marxist-Leninist party) had its own plans for a March 13 march about the high cost of living, low wages, company unions and government violence against the labor movement.

It ended up that the rival labor/left umbrella organization, Unity of the Whole Struggle by the People (ULIP), along with the COMENENAL doctors' union and several other health care workers' organizations, set aside their differences with FRENADESO to hold a joint protest on March 13. The different groups made their way along the usual route from Plaza Porras up Avenida Peru, then down Via Espana and Avenida Central to Santa Ana and the Casco Viejo, where they ended up in front of the barriers that presidential guard set up around Plaza Catedral. The perfunctory meeting of a delegation of protest leaders with low-level government officials was mainly an exchange of insults.

But meanwhile, this was larger that the usual labor march, and along the way there were more than the usual expressions of public support. Why was that? Because prices of food and other necessities are way up and the incomes of working people are not and there is an increasing trend for people to blame the government for the squeeze.

Genaro Lopez, the leader of the SUNTRACS construction workers' union and the person that most Panamanians name when asked to name a labor leader. Photo by SUNTRACS

The Partido Alternativa Popular (PAP) is led by former University of Panama professors' union leader Olmedo Beluche and is a part of ULIP. One of its main disagreements with FRENADESO is that it supports a leftist electoral expression while the MLN-29 and FRENADESO are against participating in electoral politics. Photo by Eric Jackson

Campesinos from some of the 20 rural communities in northern Cocle and western Colon provinces that have been cordoned off by former Cocle governor Richard Fifer's illegal Petaquilla strip mine. Photo by Eric Jackson

A member of one of the doctors' unions that are
part of COMENENAL. Photo by Eric Jackson

The Liberation Theology Catholics. Photo by Eric Jackson

FRENADESO leader Andrés Rodriguez, a leader of Panama's
largest teachers' union, registers allegations of corruption as
the march passes the National Assembly. Photo by Eric Jackson

The Veraguas Educators Association, which along with its associated cooperative is a major
provincial political and economic power, is at the heart of ULIP. Photo by Eric Jackson

If the powers that be can't stand this generation of
Panama's labor movement, they're really going to
despise the next generation. Photo by SUNTRACS

News \| Economy \| Culture \| Opinion \| Lifestyle \| Science \| Outdoors Noticias \| Opiniones \| Calendar \| Archive \| UnClassified Ads \| Home	Volume 14, Number 6 March 23 - April 5, 2008

business & economy