No free time accorded to trade union leaders: In 2013, the Ministry of Education forced trade union leaders in the education sector (COLPROSHUMAH, COPRUMH, PRICPHMA, COLPEDAGOGOSH) back to work and denied them their right to free time for trade union activities.

Threats and harassment of union members: Soon after the Canadian company Gildan Activewear bought the garment factory Star in El Progreso city, union members were reportedly harassed and threatened by management personnel. Non-unionised workers were encouraged to spread rumours about an imminent closure due to the presence of the trade union.

Union leaders in the education sector have also received threats by telephone and have been followed by cars without licence plates.

Collective agreements are not respected: A collective agreement signed between garment factory Pinehurst Manufacturing and the union SITRAPINEHURST stipulating the reintegration of unfairly dismissed workers were not only breached by the company, but several union members were dismissed soon after it was signed.

Casa Comercial Mathews, a Caterpillar subsidiary, dismissed 100 members of the SITRACCMA union in a clear breach of the collective agreement. The dismissed workers refused to accept an order to be transferred to a different branch of the same company. The clear objective of the changes was to destabilise the union.

Violence against workers: In the Bajo Aguán Valley, 57 rural workers have been murdered since 2009 for opposing forced evictions by large landowners who want to increase the cultivation of African palm trees. Any popular uprising is brutally repressed amid impunity and a growing criminalisation of protest and social struggle.

Interference in union rules: The Ministry of Education has directly interfered in union rules by demanding that union leaders not seek election after two mandates.

Complaint filed under Trade Agreement: On March 26, 2012, the AFL-CIO and 26 Honduran unions and NGOs submitted a detailed complaint under the labour chapter of the Central American Free Trade Agreement alleging that the government of Honduras failed to enforce its labour laws relating to freedom of association, the right to bargain collectively, child labour, wages and hours of work and occupational safety and health. These violations took place in the apparel sector, agriculture and port sectors. The US government has initiated an investigation but has yet to issue a report.

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