At least 115 trade unionists were murdered for defending workers’ rights in 2005, while more than 1 600 were assaulted and about 9 000 were arrested, an international survey said on Tuesday.
Nearly 10 000 workers were sacked for their trade union involvement, and almost 1 700 detained, according to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions’ (ICFTU) annual survey.
Latin America remained the most perilous region for trade union activity, with Colombia topping the list for killings, intimidation and death threats.
The report said Zimbabwe’s trade union movement was subjected to continued harassment by the government, with death threats against trade union leaders, arrests and detentions of union members, and several cases of physical violence against trade unionists.
Rubber bullets and teargas were a feature of police responses to protests by workers in South Africa, two of whom were hospitalised as a result of police actions. New laws in Nigeria placed heavy restrictions on the right to strike and totally banned trade unions for certain types of worker.
The Ethiopian authorities targeted the journalists’ union for repression and maintained their ban on the country’s teachers’ union, several of whose members were detained and accused of high treason. Further anti-union action in the education sector occurred in Algeria and Cameroon.
In Sudan, Egypt and Libya, only government-controlled national trade union centres were permitted.
In one of the worst incidents in Africa, police in Djibouti shot one driver’s union member dead and wounded several others. A strike of dock workers in the same country was met with 170 arrests and 70 dismissals.
Other countries under the spotlight for violence and repression against unionists include Iraq, Iran, El Salvador, Djibouti, China, Cambodia, Guatemala and Burma.
Some Arabian Gulf countries continue to ban trade unions altogether, while in several other countries including North Korea, government-controlled ”official trade unions” are the norm.
In Australia, the government rushed through new laws depriving the country’s workforce of the most fundamental protections, the report said.
”This year’s report reveals deeply disturbing trends, especially for women, migrant workers and those who work in the public sector”, said ICFTU general secretary Guy Ryder.
”The death toll was slightly lower in 2005 than the previous year, but we are nevertheless witnessing increasingly severe violence and hostility against working people who stand up for their rights,” he said.
In Europe, the heaviest repression against trade unions occurred in Belarus.
The Turkish authorities were also responsible for acts of violence against education sector workers, and more than 500 Turkish workers were dismissed for their union involvement.
Within the European Union interference in and surveillance of trade unions was reported in Poland, while the German government refused to lift a ban on strikes by civil servants. – Sapa