TRADES UNION CONGRESS GREATER LONDON ASSOCIATION OF TRADE UNION COUNCILS
President: Peter Spalding
Secretary: Bob Tennant 25 Vicarage Road Leyton E10 5EF 020-8558 6612
e-mail: bob.tennant@virgin.net <mailto:bob.tennant@virgin.net>
website: www.glatuc.org.uk <http://www.glatuc.org.uk>
19 August 2002
S.E. Monsieur Jean-Bertrand Aristide Président de la République d'Haïti Présidence de la République d'Haïti Palais National, Champ de Mars Port-au-Prince, HAÏTI
Your Excellency,
This Association, which represents about 250,000 trade unionists in London, wishes to express its deep concern about the continued detention of nine people who participated in the union rally at the Guacimal plantation near St. Raphael on 27 May 2002. You will recall that the rally was called by the St. Raphael Guacimal Workers' Union (Syndicat des Ouvriers de Guacimal Saint-Raphaël - SOGS) and was supported by trade unionists from Saint-Michel de l'Attalaye and Cap-Haïtien.
The nine people who were subject to arbitrary arrest and who are still imprisoned without charge, include six trade unionists, members of a workers' organisation affiliated to the legally-registered, 'First of May-Batay Ouvriye' union federation. The others detained are two drivers, and one drivers' assistant, who were in vehicles bringing demonstrators to the rally.
As a large number of grassroots organisations in Haiti pointed out in a press release dated 11 June, the nine have been imprisoned because they tried to exercise their legal rights to assembly and association as guaranteed in the 1987 Constitution, and because they demanded the minimum working conditions and benefits as laid down in the country's Labour Code, and as agreed by the Guacimal SA management and the peasant/workers when the land was leased in 1958.
Given the serious concerns expressed by the labour organizations in Haiti, and the rising level of international interest, this Association asks for your urgent consideration of the following:
* An immediate end to all acts of intimidation that are contrary to letter and the spirit of the rights to freedom of expression and assembly as guaranteed by the 1987 Constitution and by international human rights and labour law; * The intervention of the Minister of Justice to secure the immediate release without conditions of these nine illegally detained people; * The arrest of those implicated in the murder of the two peasant/workers on 27 May at Guacimal, St. Raphael; * Justice and compensation for the victims of the tragic events at Guacimal on 27 May; * The creation of an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the peasant/workers' situation and, in particular, the bloody events of 27 May; * The creation of the conditions of security to permit the peasant/workers to return to their place of work.
For your convenience I append a list of those detained.
Yours sincerely
Bob Tennant Secretary
The names of the nine detained people are:
1. Yvon LOUIS JEUNE, a driver from Cap-Haïtien
2. Alix ROLAND, a drivers' assistant
3. Destiné DÉCIUS, a driver from St Michel de l'Attalaye
4. Tusson ALEXANDRE, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
5. Veruséus SÉNAT, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
6. Dorvil JÉRÉMIE, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
7. Urbain GARÇON, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
8. Mme Danbreville ÉDOUARD, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
9. Mme Lucienne JEAN, a union member from St Michel de L'Attalaye
What is GLATUC? Greater London Association of Trade Union CouncilsWhat is a trade union council?
Each London borough is served by a trade union council (also known as a trades council or TUC). They are registered by the Trades Union Congress. They are organisations consisting of delegates from the trade union branches active locally, in both the private and public sectors. Trade union councils frequently also invite student unions, pensioners' groups, tenants associations, anti-racist organisations and other community groups to join their meetings in an associate capacity.
Local TUCs undertake a wide range of work. They organise events on Workers Memorial Day (28 April) and International Workers Day (1st May, May Day). They frequently participate in borough council committees, such as Agenda 21 committees, and serve on other public bodies on behalf of the Trades Union Congress. They conduct trade union awareness and recruitment campaigns and support local anti-racist and anti-fascist activities. Above all, they provide support to industrial disputes.What is GLATUC?
GLATUC is the trade union body for London, bringing together trade unionists across the capital. It is made up of delegates from the trades councils covering the London Boroughs. We fit into the TUC national structure through the Southern & Eastern Region of the TUC (SERTUC) and the national Annual Conference of the trade union councils movement. Traditionally, we also provide the delegate for South East England on the TUCJCC, the national co-ordinating body for the Trade Union Council movement, consisting of regional representatives and members of the TUC General Council.
GLATUC aims to be the co-ordinating body for rank and file trade union action across London and its trade union councils. We send representatives to London-wide bodies, handle issues which involve more than one borough, develop policy on London-wide issues, provide support for borough TUCs and, especially, co-ordinate rank-and-file support across London on major social and industrial issues and industrial disputes. We have recently given support to workers in dispute at
· Ford Dagenham,
· SkyChef Heathrow,
· London's tube
· National Health Service
· Post Office
Over the years we, and our predecessor, the London Trades Council, have supported all the major working class battles. Trade union councils (then known as trades councils) had a leading role in the General Strike of 1926. More recently we played a major role in the successful battles against anti-trade union laws in the early 1970s, the successful equal pay battle at Trico in the 1970s, the 1984-5 Miners Strike, the Print Workers battle of the mid-80s, the Magnet lockout and the PriceCheck recognition campaign in the mid-90s and all the other major disputes.
GLATUC is also the leading partner in organising London's annual May Day March and Rally.
