2015 ITUC Global Rights Index - Peru

2015 ITUC Global Rights Index Rating: 4

Union leader hospitalised after being beaten:

In September 2014, Luis Cardenas, a trade union leader at security firm Prosegur, became the victim of a brutal and violent assault near his home in Peru. Cardenas, an off-duty worker, was left hospitalised by the attack after an anonymous criminal smashed him across the head with a rock.

The attacker took none of Cardenas' personal property, suggesting he was targeted simply for being a trade union leader. Just one month earlier, pamphlets were circulated to Prosegur staff identifying Cardenas as a union leader and falsely accusing him of stealing union funds.

Intimidation against LAN-TAM airlines union oficial:

On 21 June 2014, Juan Carlos Talavera Flores, the press secretary of the SITALANPE union of Peru, reported that he was detained. Leader in the international solidarity campaign to protect aviation standards in South America, his detention was made while he was distributing information in the Jorge Chavez Airport in Lima and answering questions from passengers about the upcoming industrial actions and strikes in LAN and TAM airlines.

Attacks on Risk Control workers:

In April 2014, the union representing workers at Risk Control, Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Empresa Risk Control, in the oil sector, denounced physical assaults and attempts on the lives and health of its members. The incidents took place whilst they were providing security services at the pipelines of oil company Savia Perú.

The union also denounced the absence of labour inspectors in the city of Talara and the company's refusal to submit its responses to the collective bargaining proposals of 2012 and 2013.

According to the union, the company's managers did not comply with the legal procedures established, failing to report the incidents to the National Police and other relevant authorities.

Regional government officials, for their part, refused to give orders to request the presence of labour inspectors.

Petrex not negotiating in good faith with oil workers:

In October 2013, the union representing PETREX employees, Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Empresa PETREX S.A. (SIGETRAPETREX), affiliated to the Central Autónoma de Trabajadores del Perú (CATP), entered into the direct negotiations phase of the collective bargaining process and requested the accounting documents needed to know the situation in terms of profits and losses. By April 2014, however, the Administrative Labour Authority had still not issued the relevant report.

At a meeting held in April 2014 between SIGETRAPETREX and the company, the latter refused to accept the clauses presented by the workers. The managers knew that the union did not have access to the financial statements and other accounts during the negotiation. PETREX is part of the SAIPEM Group, made up of PETREX S.A. and the Italian ENI Group.

The ITUC Global Rights Index Ratings:

1 // Irregular violation of rights
Collective labour rights are generally guaranteed. Workers can freely associate and defend their rights collectively with the government and/or companies and can improve their working conditions through collective bargaining. Violations against workers are not absent but do not occur on a regular basis.

2 // Repeated violation of rights
Countries with a rating of 2 have slightly weaker collective labour rights than those with the rating 1. Certain rights have come under repeated attacks by governments and/or companies and have undermined the struggle for better working conditions.

3 // Regular violation of rights
Governments and/or companies are regularly interfering in collective labour rights or are failing to fully guarantee important aspects of these rights. There are deficiencies in laws and/or certain practices which make frequent violations possible.

4 // Systematic violation of rights
Workers in countries with the rating 4 have reported systematic violations. The government and/or companies are engaged in serious efforts to crush the collective voice of workers putting fundamental rights under threat.

5 // No guarantee of rights
Countries with the rating of 5 are the worst countries in the world to work in. While the legislation may spell out certain rights workers have effectively no access to these rights and are therefore exposed to autocratic regimes and unfair labour practices.

5+ // No guarantee of rights due to the breakdown of the rule of law
Workers in countries with the rating 5+ have equally limited rights as countries with the rating 5. However, in countries with the rating 5+ this is linked to dysfunctional institutions as a result of internal conflict and/or military occupation. In such cases, the country is assigned the rating of 5+ by default.