December 16, 2004
Guatemala Update #4
Today, we met with folks from UNSITRAGUA and UASP, both longtime labor organizations. Irene from UNSITRAGUA told me that in many ways things have become worse ecenomically since Berger came to power. He ran on a platform to increase the minimum wage, but 2 days after taking office he suspended the minimum wage, which stands at 38.6 Questzales per day. That equals about $5 a day. She also said that the years long labor battle with Chiquita banana has resulted in Chiquita moving many of the plantations to the south, away from the Puerto Barrios area where there has been a strong union presence.
The issue in which she spoke most about was CAFTA. There is tremendous organizing here around this issue, even though Congress and the Berger administration hope to keep it out of the public eye. Currently there are about 200 Maquiladoras in Guatemala, but if CAFTA goes through that number is expected to increase. At one point, Irene said that all of Guatemala is a Maquiladora in the eyes of the business community.
At UASP we spoke with Nedy Barrios, who just returned from a trip to the US to meet with the AFL-CIO and members of the US Congress on CAFTA. He said that what CAFTA would do is:
- provide even larger tax breaks to foreign investors
- cause many in the agricultural sector to leave the country since US subsidized corn and beans would undercut the Guatemalan market
- many small and medium sized businesses would close
We were very impressed with his clarity and analysis of this trade policy. We hope to visit a sweatshop soon to interview workers and get their perspective on CAFTA.