On #tdih Jan. 3, 1932 martial law was declared in Honduras to stop a walkout by banana workers in protest of a 20 percent wage cut by the United Fruit Company. Longshoremen joined in the strike. Labor organizations and any meeting of more than two people in the streets were deemed illegal. The strike leaders were kidnapped and sent to El Salvador. (Of note is that when troops were sent to impose martial law, they sided with the workers. Read more in A History of Organized Labor in Panama and Central America.) Pablo Neruda, in Canto General wrote a poem about the role of the United Fruit Company in Latin America, read here: bit.ly/1l6DfoJ The Zinn Education Project offers resources for teaching labor history, outside the textbook, here: bit.ly/1s6F4XA Teaching for Change has resources for teaching about Central American history here: bit.ly/13HBVmQ Linocut poster, by artist Alberto Beltrán. Translation of text: The strike of 50,000 Honduran workers exploited for more than 50 years by the monopoly of the United Fruit Co., is a just cause. They are not allowed a labor union, they do not have labor laws. Help them. Dont allow a foreign company to mock the hunger and misery of the people. Poster source: UC San Diego special collections: bit.ly/1dfXUiR
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 17:22:12 +0000
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