Guatemalan Court Slaps Down Plan to Reduce Minimum Wage

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Telesur

Guatemalan Court Slaps Down Plan to Reduce Minimum Wage


[font size=1]
Former president President Otto Perez Molina also tried to reduce the minimum wage, but the move was also
overruled by the courts. | Photo: Reuters

Published 8 January 2016 (6 hours 52 minutes ago) [/font]

Guatemalan courts said lowering the minimum wage – which would force people to work for less than a living wage – is unconstitutional.


The Guatemalan courts have temporarily ruled in favor of local workers and suspended a government decision to lower the minimum wage in certain areas of the country.

President Alejandro Maldonado Aguirre passed a motion on Dec. 30 to lower the minimum wage for workers of light industrial manufacturing in four municipalities – forcing people to work below a living wage, in a country where the poverty rate is almost 60 percent.

However, the constitutional court sided with local local unions and the ombudsman for human rights, Jorge de Leon, Thursday who argued that the move was unconstitutional.


Read more: http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Guatemalan-Court-Slaps-Down-Plan-to-Reduce-Minimum-Wage-20160108-0011.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Amnesty International: Ríos Montt’s trial is the ultimate test for Guatemala’s justice system

January 7, 2016

Ríos Montt’s trial is the ultimate test for Guatemala’s justice system


The trial of Guatemala’s former military ruler, José Efraín Ríos Montt, due to start on January 11, will be a major test for the country’s justice system and a huge opportunity for Guatemala to show it is committed to human rights, said Amnesty International today.

“Tens of thousands of Guatemalans who fell victim to the heinous crimes committed under Ríos Montt’s rule have been waiting three decades to see justice done – they must not be forced to wait one second longer,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International.

“The Guatemalan ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ approach when it comes to dealing with the hundreds of thousands of cases of torture, killings and disappearances that took place during the country’s civil war is shameful and illegal. The only deterrent to the perpetrators of crimes like these is the clear knowledge that they will face justice and the full might of the law.”

Efraín Ríos Montt is charged with crimes against humanity and genocide in relation to the killing and torture of 1,771 Mayan-Ixil Indigenous people and the forced displacement of tens of thousands when he was president and commander-in-chief of the Guatemalan Army between 1982 and 1983.

More:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/rios-montt-s-trial-is-the-ultimate-test-for-guatemala-s-justice-system

LA forum:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/110846716