ITF Wins Promise for Investigation into Death Threats

The ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation) has won a promise from the Honduran ambassador to the U.K. to investigate death threats and victimization of trade unionists in the city of Puerto Cortés.

A high-level delegation made up of Steve Cotton, ITF acting general secretary; Paddy Crumlin, ITF president; Victor Crespo, president of the ITF-affiliated Sindicato Gremial de Trabajadores del Muelle (SGTM); and Tomas Abrahamsson, ITF maritime coordinator, won the assurance in a meeting with Ambassador Romero-Martinez yesterday.

Meanwhile members of the ITF dockers’ section committee, representing port workers worldwide, held a demonstration outside the embassy calling for ‘negotiation not intimidation’.

SGTM members have been subject to a catalogue of human and trade union rights abuses in Puerto Cortés, where global terminal operator ICTSI won the concession to run the port in September 2012. The union has been trying to negotiate with the company’s subsidiary in Honduras over a collective bargaining agreement for workers.