Nicaraguan gov't assaults unions
1990Alan Benjamin 1990-06Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
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On May 16, the nationwide strike by Nicaraguan public workers ended after a settlement was reached between the Chamorro government and the striking unions. • The walkout began on May 10. It was called by the Sandinista Workers Federation (CST) and the National Union of Public Employees (UNE), two pro-Sandinista unions. They demanded a 200 percent increase in wages and the maintenance of a civil service law enacted by the Sandinistas just prior to Chamorro's election. Many workers viewed this law as protection against layoffs and arbitrary firings.
While the Chamorro government was forced to back down from its openly anti-union stance (it had proclaimed the walkout "unlawful, illegal, and non-existent"), it ended up making few concessions to the workers.
"Chamorro decreed a 60 percent wage increase for public workers," Rodrigo Ibarra, a leader of the Nicaraguan Movement for Revolutionary Unity (MUR), told Socialist Action. "This represents almost nothing when you take into account the skyrocketing inflation rate that has resulted from the new government's sharp devaluations of the córdoba [the national currency]."
The Chamorro government rejected the unions' demand for an escalator clause that would raise wages to match the rise in living costs. Nor did the government withdraw its intention to suspend the civil service law. Instead it referred it to the National Assembly, which it controls. Everything indicates that it will soon be suspended.
There was no language in the settlement, moreover, that would guarantee the jobs of the public workers. It is only a matter of time before the mass layoffs and firings begin.
On the third day of the strike, the top FSLN commanders solidarized with the public workers. At the same time, however, Daniel Ortega called on Cardinal Obando y Bravo to be a mediator in the strike.
Ortega's appeal to Obando was viewed as a stab in the back by many strikers, who saw frame this as a call to end the strike. Soon after Obando stepped in, a settlement was reached that fell far short of the workers' demands.
Ibarra explained the role of the Sandinista leadership in the current situation. "You must understand that the Sandinista leadership has formed a de-facto governmental alliance with the Chamorro wing of the UNO [National Opposition Union] coalition," he said.
Ibarra continued, "Daniel Ortega hailed Chamorro as a Sandinista in an interview (continued on page 18)