Demonstration in Quito on May Day
Workers of the Northwest Transportation Company CIA. Ltda. of Ecuador continue to wait for a fair response from the Ministry of Labour to their request to register a trade union.
The workers filed the registration form in 2016 when 22 workers were then dismissed by their influential employer, who chairs a Federation of Heavy Transport in Ecuador and prevents the formation of a union in the company he owns. The employer has continued to threaten those who are still working in the company, and those who have been dismissed have been blacklisted which makes it impossible for them to get a new job.
The BWI Regional Representative, Nilton Freitas, recently requested the President of the Republic, Lenin Moreno, to act promptly in order to reinstall dismissed workers and accept the union registration that has been ignored by the Ministry of Labour.
On May Day, workers of the nascent union organization expressed their dissatisfaction in the streets of Quito with banners and slogans. Striking workers protested against the illegal action of the Ministry of Labour and the impunity under with which the employer can dismiss, intimidate and blacklist workers so that they cannot find other jobs in the heavy transport industry.