Panama: BWI stands in solidarity with SUNTRACS amid repression and escalating attacks on workers’ rights
Published on 14 February 2025
The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) Presidium, meeting in Geneva on 13-14 February 2025, expresses its unwavering solidarity with the Single National Union of the Construction and Similar Industries of Panama (SUNTRACS) and the working people of Panama in their just struggle against the privatisation of the pension system, the regressive social security reforms being imposed by the government, and the excessive use of force by the state against protesting workers.
The proposed reforms threaten to increase the retirement age, reduce pensions through individual accounts, and hand over the administration of the system to private financial institutions, disproportionately benefiting banks while harming workers’ rights and economic security. These attacks on social protections are unacceptable and represent a clear violation of fundamental labour rights.
On February 12, 2025, thousands of construction workers affiliated with SUNTRACS staged a one- hour national protest, distributing flyers and demonstrating in multiple locations, including the Hospital del Niño construction project in Panama City. However, instead of engaging in dialogue, the government responded with a violent police crackdown, leading to the arrest of 514 workers, some of whom were women who were breastfeeding at the time of their detention.
To make matters worse, President José Raúl Mulino has publicly spoken against SUNTRACS and its leadership, seeking to spread fear and weaken the union, further compounding the reported excessive use of force reported.
This latest attack adds to the blatant retaliatory acts of 2024, when the Panamanian banking sector, led by the state-owned Caja de Ahorro bank and National Bank, closed SUNTRACS’ financial accounts as punishment for the union’s role in national protests against an illegal 40-year mining concession. These actions sought to cripple the union’s ability to operate, violating fundamental trade union rights enshrined in ILO Conventions 87 and 98.
By continuing its pattern of criminalizing union activism and suppressing the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, the Panamanian government is reinforcing its anti-union stance and its disregard for international labour standards.
BWI firmly condemns these acts of repression and state-sponsored union-busting. The right to protest and organize is a fundamental pillar of democracy and cannot be silenced through force and intimidation.
We stand with SUNTRACS and Panamanian workers in their fight to defend pensions, social security, and trade union rights. We call on the Panamanian government to:
- End the repression and respect workers' constitutional rights to organize and protest.
- Unfreeze SUNTRACS’ accounts and cease all financial and administrative attacks against the union.
- Abandonthepensionreformproposalsthatthreatenworkers’retirementsecurityandinstead work with the unions toward sustainable and equitable social protection.
BWI will continue to monitor the situation closely and mobilize international support to ensure that Panamanian workers receive the justice and respect they deserve. An attack on one is an attack on all!
Solidarity with SUNTRACS!