Guatemalan and U.S. labor groups filed a complaint Wednesday with the U.S. Department of Labor alleging that Guatemala had failed to uphold its own labor laws as required under the Central American Free Trade Agreement. The complaint alleges that, despite provisions in the pact requiring workers' rights to be protected, Guatemalan trade unionists have been threatened, fired and even assassinated -- including a union official who was shot dead in front of his young children last year. The groups called on the Bush administration to initiate dispute settlement proceedings, which could result in fines of as much as $15 million annually against the Guatemalan government.
See "Guatemala accused in CAFTA labor complaint", Marla Dickerson, Los Angeles Times, April 24, 2008