[NOTE: Honduran union leader Victor Crespo has been threatened for trying to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with ICTSI, the same terminal operator that took over operations at the Port of Portland’s Terminal 6 in 2010.]
Killing payback for port collective bargain fight
The father of Honduran trade union leader Victor Crespo has been murdered, the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) said.
Mr Crespo Snr died in hospital following an attack on he and other family members by an armed assailant who ran them down in a stolen car.
Mr Crespo Jnr had himself been threatened with death for trade union work in northern town Puerto Cortes.
Following a murder attempt in September 2013, he was evacuated to a third country to allow him to continue his work as president of the Syndicated Union of Dock Workers (SGTM).
The ITF said it appeared the same forces that wanted him dead then had targeted his father Victor Manuel Crespo Puerto.
Death threats have also been made against other SGTM leadership.
Trade unions believe these were connected to the fight for a collective bargaining agreement at Puerto Cortes port.
Port operation has recently been taken over by International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI), which has hired a single dockworking company.
When the SGTM pressed for its members’ rights, the death threats immediately resumed.
During the first attack on September 14 2013, three armed men tried to force their way into Mr Crespo Jnr’s home.
When they failed, they left shouting that they’d be back “to finish the job” and that “Mr Crespo should stop making noise organising dockworkers.”
The incident followed months of death threats.
ITF Americas regional secretary Antonio Rodriquez Fritz said: “After the first attack we moved to protect Victor and demanded the authorities provide an armed police guard for him.
“It quickly became evident they had decided to ignore the obvious danger he was in, and so we had to get him out of the country and to a place of safety.
“Despite briefing them all, the president of Honduras, the labour minister and the local police have failed to provide any protection for Victor or his family.
“We know that the danger to Victor has not diminished and are taking the necessary steps to protect him.
“What none of us had expected was that the attackers would be so cowardly and cold blooded as to murder an innocent and elderly man in his place.”