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Edited/Distributed by HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network
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## author     : wnu@igc.apc.org
## date       : 07.12.97
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          WEEKLY NEWS UPDATE ON THE AMERICAS
             ISSUE #410, DECEMBER 7, 1997
  NICARAGUA SOLIDARITY NETWORK OF GREATER NEW YORK
339 LAFAYETTE ST., NEW YORK, NY 10012 (212) 674-9499

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MAQUILA WORKERS MEET IN NICARAGUA

Representatives of maquiladora workers from Costa Rica, the
Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and
Panama met in Managua on Nov. 30 in the "Oscar Rivas First
Seminar on the Free Trade Zones of Central America."
Nicaragua's Labor Ministry (MITRAB) participated, along with
representatives of the National Assembly. The conference was
organized by the Sandinista Workers Federation (CST) and was
financed by the nongovernmental group Denmark for Central
America; it was named after Oscar Rivas Artola, a Nicaraguan
maquiladora worker electrocuted by a malfunctioning machine
on Nov. 19 [see Update #408, which in the last paragraph
gave an incorrect date for a Nov. 17 press conference by CST
workers].

The participants agreed that free trade zones were necessary
to attract foreign investment but insisted that the
companies must respect local and international labor laws.
CST representatives recommended negotiation (concertacion)
between governments, companies and unions to resolve the
differences. Manuel de Jesus Santos from the Dominican
Republic emphasized the right to organize, noting that the
companies fought unionization by using "young workers with
little or no organizing experience, basically women, [and]
the development of a strategy of psychological pressure to
avoid organizing..." The union representatives formed a
regional coordinating committee of maquiladora workers
unions, to be part of the Central American Workers
Coordinating Committee (COCENTRA). [La Tribuna (Managua)
12/1/97; Barricada (Managua) 12/2/97]