GUATEMALA
How to “Neutralize” and “Wipe Out” Unions: G4S in Guatemala
Wackenhut’s behavior in Guatemala is a disturbing example of the company’s virulent anti-union stance. In 1995, Wackenhut’s then-manager in Guatemala, Fernando Hegel, commissioned a “confidential” memo from Samuel Cabrera Padilla. Padilla served as Minister of Labor under Guatemala’s military dictatorship. The stated goal of this 22-page document, issued in 1995 is to “neutralize . . . or gradually weaken” a trade union “until it is wiped out.”
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Guatemala: Secret War Against the Trade Unions January 1, 1998 ICFTU
Despite international exposure of this document, Fernando Hegel’s star has continued to rise at Wackenhut. He is now group business development director in Miami.
Padilla opens by saying that "the so-called democratic opening up of Vinicio Cerezo's government, continued by Serrano Elias and the current government, has led to the proliferation of trade unions, which has led to licentiousness, abuses and the politicization of the trade union movement." He advises on such union-busting tips as hiring workers to serve as spies, splitting an enterprise into separate companies, and creating company-sponsored worker associations. Other suggested tactics to “combat and crush” worker organizing and “instill fear” include “immediate dismissal of the leaders” and “intense physical and mental work on each employee, exploiting his or her character, conduct, ambitions, weaknesses etc.”
Wackenhut seems to have put these tips into action. For example, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions reports that after José Luis Mendia Flores tried to form a union at Wackenhut’s Guatemalan operations, the company fired him. The labor court ordered in 1997 that he be reinstated, but Wackenhut did not comply with the ruling. In 2001, Mr. Flores was forced to leave his home after receiving numerous death threats over at least a two-year period.
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Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights 2001 ICFTU
Case 2050 - Guatemala ILO