Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/paraguay.txu

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TITLE:  PARAGUAY HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995



Section 6  Worker Rights

     a.  The Right of Association

The Constitution allows both private and public sector workers
(with the exception of the armed forces and the police) to form
and join unions without government interference.  The
Constitution contains several provisions which protect
fundamental workers' rights, including an antidiscrimination
clause, provisions for employment tenure, severance pay for
unjustified firings, collective bargaining, and the right to
strike.  Approximately 9 percent of workers are organized.

In general, unions are independent of the Government and
political parties.  However one of the nation's three labor
centrals, the Confederation of Paraguayan Workers (CPT), has
traditionally been closely aligned with the ruling Colorado
Party.  The Government does not require the CPT to comply with
union election requirements to the same extent that it requires
compliance from the other labor centrals.  Government officials
were also accused of encouraging some of the recently organized
public sector unions to affiliate with the CPT.

All unions must be registered with the Ministry of Justice and
Labor.  The registration process is cumbersome and can take
several months.  Furthermore, employers who wish to oppose the
formation of a union can further delay union recognition by
filing a writ with the Government opposing it.  Virtually all
unions that request recognition eventually receive it, however.
The Constitution protects the right to strike and bans binding
arbitration.  Furthermore, high-level officials from the
Ministry of Justice and Labor have made themselves available to
mediate labor conflicts.  The Constitution protects strikers
and leaders against retribution, and several strikes occurred
in 1994.  Despite these provisions, employers dismissed many
strikers and labor leaders for attempting to form unions, for
carrying out routine union business, or for carrying out
strikes.  The International Labor Organization (ILO) is
currently considering two pending claims against the Government
for alleged violations of international labor standards.

Unions are free to form and join federations or confederations
and affiliate with and participate in international labor
bodies.

     b.  The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

The law provides for collective bargaining, and collective
contracts were successfully concluded in many cases.  The
number of successfully negotiated collective contracts
continued to grow in 1994; however, collective contracts were
still the exception rather than the norm in labor-management
relations and typically reaffirmed minimum standards
established by law.  When wages are not set in free
negotiations between unions and employers, they are made a
condition of individual employment offered to employees.

While the Constitution prohibits antiunion discrimination, the
firing and harassment of some union organizers and leaders in
the private sector continued.  Fired union leaders can seek
redress in the courts, but the labor courts have been slow to
respond to complaints and typically favor business in disputes.
The courts are not required to order the reinstatement of
workers fired for union activities.  As in previous years, in
some cases where judges ordered reinstatement of discharged
workers, the employers disregarded the court order with
impunity.  There are a number of cases in which trade union
leaders, fired within the last 5 years, have not yet received a
decision from the courts.

There were over 20 strikes by unions affiliated with the
independent labor central CUT alone, the vast majority of which
were directly related to the firing of union organizers, to
management violations of a collective contract, to management
efforts to prevent workers from freely associating, or to
benefit demands such as payment of the minimum wage or
contribution to the social security system.  The failure to
meet salary payments frequently precipitated labor problems.
Principal problems included bottlenecks in the judicial system
and an inability of the Government to enforce labor laws.
There were also complaints of management creating parallel or
"factory" unions to compete with independently formed unions.
There were several cases of workers not receiving the legally
established minimum wage or overtime pay who choose not to
protest because of fear of reprisal or anticipation of
government inaction.

Paraguay has no export processing zones.

     c.  Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The law prohibits forced labor.  However, substantiated cases
of abuse of national service obligations occurred during 1994.
There were several documented cases of draftees forced to serve
as laborers for military officers in their residences or
privately owned businesses.  Other than the abuse of national
service obligations, the authorities appear to effectively
enforce the law.  Domestics, children, and foreign workers are
not forced to remain in situations amounting to coerced or
bonded labor.

     d.  Minimum Age for Employment of Children

The office of the Director General for the Protection of Minors
in the Ministry of Justice and Labor is responsible for
enforcing child labor laws.  Minors between 15 to 18 years of
age may be employed only with parental authorization and cannot
be employed under dangerous or unhealthy conditions.  Children
between 12 and 15 years of age may be employed only in family
enterprises, apprenticeships, or in agriculture.  The Labor
Code prohibits work by children under 12 years of age, and all
children are required to attend elementary school.  In
practice, however, many thousands of children, many younger
than 12, work in urban areas engaged in informal employment
such as selling newspapers and sundries, shining shoes, and
cleaning car windows.  In rural areas, it is not unusual for
children as young as 10 to work beside their parents in the
field.

     e.  Acceptable Conditions of Work

The executive, through the Ministry of Justice and Labor, has
established a private sector minimum wage sufficient to
maintain a minimally adequate standard of living.  The minimum
salary was adjusted by 10 percent in June to $200 (379,000
guarani) a month in response to a loss in real purchasing power
of between 30 to 40 percent since 1989.  The Ministry is
unable, however, to enforce the minimum wage, and most analysts
agree that from 50 to 70 percent of workers earn less than the
decreed minimum.

The Labor Code allows for a standard legal workweek of
48 hours, 42 hours for night work, with 1 day of rest.  The law
also provides for an annual bonus of 1 month's salary and a
minimum of 6 vacation days a year.  The law requires overtime
payment for hours in excess of the standard, but there are no
prohibitions on excessive compulsory overtime.  Many employers,
however, violate these provisions.  Workers in the
transportation sector struck in March to demand that their work
day be limited to 8 hours and that they be paid the minimum
wage.

The Labor Code also stipulates conditions of safety, hygiene,
and comfort.  However, the Ministry of Justice and Labor did
not effectively enforce the Code's safety and hygiene
provisions, partially due to the lack of inspectors.  This led
the labor movement to sponsor inspector training programs
designed to ensure that violations were registered with the
Ministry.  Workers do not have the right to remove themselves
from situations which endanger health or safety without
jeopardy to their continued employment.  Although workers who
file complaints about such conditions are protected by law,
many employers took disciplinary action against protesting
employees with impunity.