Massive dismissal of unionists 8/25/2012 More than 300 security company workers were fired after a strike.

Unionists from all over the world condemned the Spanish security company Prosegur’s decision to fire 325 workers in a single day in Paraguay.

On July 30 the workers affiliated with the Prosegur-Paraguay Workers’ Union returned to their work places after a ten-day strike in which they demanded work and salary improvements. However, they and all of the union leadership found themselves fired.

The workers demanded salary bonuses for exposure to dangerous and unhealthy conditions, a family allowance, and yielding to established work schedules.

The Ministry of Labor did not deem the strike illegal and, according to union spokesmen, the workers agreed to end the strike after Prosegur had promised to meet their demands.

UNI Global Union, a global trade union headquartered in Switzerland that represents workers of the security sector all over the world, condemned the company’s decision and demanded that Prosegur’s main office in Madrid, Spain, order its Paraguayan subsidiary to readmit its workers.

“We will not allow the company to destroy the union, to punish workers who speak out their rights to dignified work conditions and a decent salary,” said Marvin Largaespada, leader of UNI Global Union Americas. “They pretend to implant fear by firing all of those workers who wish to exercise their rights to unrestricted unionization and collective bargaining. The absence of democracy is evident in the Prosegur case.”

Prosegur employs more than 100,000 security agents in 13 countries, but primarily in Latin America. José Boaventura Santos, president of the Brazilian Security Workers Confederation, Prosegur’s largest union, showed its support for the Paraguayan workers: “We simply cannot stand idly as Prosegur fires our fellow workers who oppose unsafe and degrading work conditions.” —Latinamerica Press.

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