Latin American Movement
Just recently, Bocas del Toro, a city of Panama, has been wrought with civil unrest, riots, protests and police violence. The cause of these disturbances is the new law that the Panamanian Assembly approved, called Law 30, or more aptly nicknamed "The Chorizo (Sausage) Law." To pass this law without public scrutiny, the National Assembly held three days of extraordinary meetings -- behind closed doors -- with no public hearing and closely guarded by the National Police (Joubert-Ceci). The driving force behind passing the law is President Ricardo Martinelli, who came into power in 2009 as a conservative candidate, full of ideas for change and betterment for his people by "cutting crime and corruption." (Brockwehl)
Since that time it has become increasingly clear to Panama, the United States and the United Nations that President Martinelli had no such plans for change or betterment. Instead of upholding his pledges, Martinelli decided to put corporate investments and institutions ahead of his country by enacting various business-friendly reforms (Brockwehl). In a sense, this is a repeat of the same story seen all over the world. Large corporations are lured to cheap-labor countries like Panama, Honduras, Mexico and India; the welfare of the citizens goes unnoticed, while wheeling and dealing changes hands under the table. The question is: will labor organizations in these countries stand up to such laws? This researcher plans to use the effects of Law 30 and subsequent riots and protests to example how laborers are realizing how valuable they are, and how valuable their country is.
The specifics of Law 30 are in itself a convoluted mess. During a special weekend session, the twelve-page law was hurriedly pushed through the Legislative Assembly. The result alters three codes and six national laws. Using the pretext of improving commercial air transportation, this law destroys unions, prohibits strikes, facilitates the destruction of the environment, and threatens civil rights by allowing total impunity for police actions (Joubert-Ceci). Several days went by before the citizens of Panama could unravel the law and discern its effects on the various labor organizations. On July 13, 2010 a general strike was issued by Unions, which joined several other organizations protesting the law with at least two lawsuits demanding its complete repeal (Joubert-Ceci). The effects of this law have now spread across the country to various groups of people who are not necessarily involved in labor organizations, but oppose the legislative power this law could bring to Panama. They are scared for the environment of their country and for the freedom it gives police. The community supports the strike and the whole region has been paralyzed. Parents have not sent their children to school. Other Indigenous people have come to Changuinola in support of their sister and brother workers (Joubert-Ceci).
Specific changes the law makes include Union fees; the workers union is no longer obligated to deduct fees from their workers. If fees are to be collected, the workers must pay the fees voluntarily (Arosemana). Legal strikes; previous to Law 30 when a strike was called this legally closed the business or establishment involved; Law 30 now takes this leverage away from workers, essentially making any strike moot (Arosemana). Also, business are now allowed to hire temporary or permanent workers to replace those who went on strike, jeopardizing the jobs of dedicated workers, also known as "blacklegging." (Arosemana) Changes to Law 18 of 1997; basically, any police officer or police force who has committed a felony while on duty or is accused of using extreme force will not be arrested or even suspended from his duties unless a judge makes that decision (Arosemana). This means that all the police violence that transpired during the strike in trying to "get control" of the crowd will not send the inexperienced force to prison for excessive use of tear gas and pellets that blinded people in the crowd. Changes to Law 41 of 1998: certain actions or works that should have gone through the Environmental Impact Studies department will have a free bypass of any restrictions, which essentially allows potentially harmful effects to happen to the environment; the only positive side to the changes is that the public must be notified so there can be a hearing for any suggestions or proposals (Arosemana). The last changes that were made had to do with Law 22 in 2006 concerning public bids; previously if there were any irregularities or illegalities concerning public bids the affected company would have to present a bond worth 10% of the offer so...
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