A Win for Labour Rights in Honduras

Liliam Castillo is 36 years old. She was born in La Paz and at the age of 15 moved to San Pedro Sula, in northern Honduras, in search of employment. She is a single mother of two, a fifteen-year-old daughter and an eighteen-year-old son. Liliam has been working for Gildan Activewear, a Canadian multinational in Honduras, for 10 years. 

In 2010, Liliam began experiencing pain in her left arm, spine, neck, and shoulders. A doctor at the Honduran Institute of Social Security diagnosed her with tendinitis, caused by repetitive movements. In 2012, a co-worker invited Liliam to join the Honduran Women’s Collective (CODEMUH), where she joined the training program and the theater group, “The Rebel Transgressors.” In February of 2013, Liliam was dismissed from Gildan and so she began the process of demanding for reinstatement. During this three-year process, Liliam did what she could to make ends meet, including selling goods and cleaning houses.

The lawsuit went through the entire judicial process, from the First Instance Court, the Court of Appeals, to the Supreme Court. After three years, the Court ruled that Gildan immediately reintegrate Liliam in equal or better conditions than she had been previously working in and also to pay lost wages. Gildan refused to adhere to the Supreme Court’s ruling and CODEMUH developed an approach to pressure the multinational corporation and implemented various strategies to demand Liliam’s reinstatement, including sit-ins in front of the company, the use of social media, local, national and international media, and the international solidarity of individuals and allied organizations.

As a result of these actions, Liliam was reinstated in May 2016. She was relocated to “Hygiene and Safety” where she assists the engineer, delivers safety equipment such as masks, ear plugs, and goggles, and ensures that workers are using them. Liliam kept her salary of 1,900.00 lempiras (approximately $100 Canadian dollars) a week, the same amount she earned when she met the production goal at the time she was fired.

Liliam says: “I am greatly grateful to CODEMUH for everything they have done for me. I have been trained, I have learned about my rights, I am a duly informed woman. Thanks to CODEMUH, I have a job, my self-esteem has improved, and I am proud to be part of the Rebel Transgressors group.”

New Video - Non Sexist & Inclusive Pedagogy

View our brand new video describing NSIP on You Tube!

Non-Sexist and Inclusive Pedagogy is aproposal which began with unionized teachers in Costa Rica, for developing liberating, democratic and inclusive educative practices. The pedagogical proposal is in constant transformation as teachers, students and communities participate in the analysis of their reality and create ways to transform it. Several teachers' unions in the Central American region have created teaching aids for elementary or secondary levels, and which today have been endorsed by Ministries of Education as official textbooks in the classroom. NSIP workshops have taken place in: Costa Rica, Panama, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru and Canada.The regional coordination for Non-Sexist and Inclusive Pedagogy Program is led by Maria Trejos Montero and Esperanza Tasies Castro.For more information visit the NSIP (PNSI) website.

The Painted Angels of Ciudad Juárez

Local artists in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico have found a profound and beautiful way to pay tribute to the lives of missing women from their city. Painting their images in murals.The project entitled, Luchando Hasta Encontrarlas (Fighting Until We Find Them), is run by the mothers (and other members) of the missing and presumed murdered women. They work with local artists to have their daughters’ images rendered in murals so that they can never be forgotten. Many of these missing cases are linked to human and sex trafficking as well as the epidemic gang violence that exists in that region. Since 1993, more than 430 women have been killed or disappeared. According to the National Citizen Femicide Obervatory, “at least 6 women are targeted every day in Mexico.”In a show of solidarity many public buildings, churches, businesses, etc. have donated their outer walls to be used as canvases. The families work with the artists, and in some cases, assist in painting the murals. The goal of the project is to paint 200 of these colourful tributes across Ciudad Juárez so that no one in the city can ever forget the tragedy of these lost women.One such artist, Maclovio Macias put his well-honed graffiti skills to use painting the murals. His inspiration came from participating in a 200-mile march alongside the many mothers whose daughters disappeared. His first mural depicted a group of mothers and daughters from this march and was painted on the back wall of a school in a busy intersection of the city. This past summer, in an act of pure disregard for the missing and their families, this precious homage to the disappeared was painted over with white paint. Could it have been the school’s doing? A group of mothers is trying to have a meeting with the school directors to try ask questions and hopefully learn the truth.No other theories have presented themselves and no one has come forward to claim responsibility. An initial report indicated that the municipal government ordered the repainting, but this has never been confirmed. One mother lamented upon hearing the news of the repainting, that her daughter Luz Angelica whose image appeared in the repainted mural, was taken from her a second time.Maclovio vows to repaint the mural and return the faces of the missing to their mothers, families and communities. These murals are a living legacy and reminder of what has been lost. They deserve to be seen and protected.