Workers denounce voter coercion

Francisco Gómez, a member of the Telecommunications Industry Workers Union (SITCOM), appeared on El Salvador’s national television station TVES this morning to denounce coercive actions by maquila factory owners to convince workers to vote for the right-wing ARENA party. He reported that a factory owner in the San Marcos free trade zone invited workers to a breakfast with Norman Quijano, candidate for ARENA, and that after Quijano left, the boss made threats against workers.

Reports of former employer trying to coerce fired workers to vote for ARENA

reported by CISPES elections observers

Image: CEAL

The STIT maquila (textile factory) workers union has denounced, via our allies at the Salvadoran Union and Social Front (FSS) and the Center for Labor Study and Support (CEAL), that 1,200 workers were fired without being payed their legally required severance pay. The factory they were fired from, which produced produced products for Hanes, Lacoste, Fruit of the Loom, and Levi’s, closed and its owners have made an illegal agreement with the fired workers that attempts to influence their vote in the upcoming February 2 elections.