New 🧵re: striking @BLHarbert construction workers building the new @usembassyhn. Remember knife threat gringo from my previous 🧵? The embassy whisked him out of the country hours later to avoid Honduran jail. Great job modeling #RuleOfLaw, @StateDept!
Since last week, @BLHarbert & @usembassyhn have doubled down on their illegal practices & harassment in an effort to wear down striking workers—who like most Hondurans are poor & have gone a month w/o pay—so they'll accept unsafe, immoral & unlawful working conditions.
For example, the attorneys workers had hired, Obed Alejandro Rivera Lopez & Emerson Eduardo Oreilly Lagos, suddenly turned on them & insisted they accept the original illegal contract they'd hired them to challenge, which workers cite as clear evidence @BLHarbert bought them off.
And though workers refuse to recognize the contract, @BLHarbert is telling them that the thumbs up from the lawyers they bought off means that everything is fixed. Workers protested this morning as the company demanded they return to the @usembassyhn construction site.
Another video of this morning's standoff. The flag has heightened meaning in this labor struggle, as not only are workers fighting for a foreign company, @BLHarbert, to respect Honduran law; they're demanding that @StateDept and @State_OBO also stop breaking it. #Sovereignty
3rd video from this AM: workers argue w/police, who came to take the tires they brought (tires are part of any Honduran protest). They pointed out to me the irony that cops did nothing when a @BLHarbert boss drew a knife in a crowd of workers & say cops are also on their payroll.
Workers have repeatedly tried to get a meeting w/@State_OBO but their bosses (unsurprisingly) refuse to pass along their messages. Instead, @BLHarbert has used criminalizing language against their own workers, accusing them of terrorism for fighting for fair working conditions.
But @BLHarbert workers aren't giving up & are starting to get more support from Honduran social movements & the intl solidarity community. On Monday we're having a forum in Tegucigalpa w/worker leader Adolfo Álvarez, longtime union leader Carlos H. Reyes & Prof. Divina Alvarenga.
Good morning! Here's a new thread on labor & human rights violations by @StateDept contractor @BLHarbert at the construction site of the new @usembassyhn. To start off, a video of Quality Control Manager Russell Brown, threateningly pulling a knife this AM in a crowd of workers:
This thread picks up from the previous one, which you can find here:
I'll start by posting some images & links from Honduran media reports on the fight of workers building the new @usembassyhn for their human and labor rights to be respected by @StateDept and its contractor @BLHarbert. Here are some screenshots from various media sources:
Yesterday, construction workers building the new @usembassyhn engaged in a work stoppage & peaceful assembly & march to protest @USAmbHonduras's complicity in @BLHarbert's labor abuses again.
Yesterday again, @BLHarbert workers protested against atrocious labor violations while building the new @usembassyhn, as their representatives went to @Trabajohn to continue their 24-day attempt to negotiate a resolution. Suspecting corruption, they called another protest today.
Construction worker and leader Adolfo Álvarez speaking to the @usembassyhn just now, requesting they send a representative to the negotiating table at @Trabajohn Monday at 1pm, and clarifying their simple ask that @BLHarbert comply with Honduran law.
New thread re: Honduran workers building new @usembassyhn protesting atrocious labor conditions by @StateDept contractor @BLHarbert. This one is going to be a doozy, so stay tuned throughout the day. Here: workers starting this AM poignantly, w/national anthem. #Sovereignty
@usembassyhn@StateDept@BLHarbert What are these workers protesting? The list of abuses by contractor @BLHarbert is long. One of the complaints is dangerous working conditions. Apparently @StateDept thinks saving money on building its new fortress is worth quite a few unremunerated Honduran fingers.
Workers tell me ~6 workers have been summarily fired after their fingers were amputated. No severance pay, no healthcare. This is Adam Lance Weiss, onsite Health & Safety Manager w/@BLHarbert, in one shot w/the Washington monument, super appropriate imperialist symbolism.
Honduran construction workers building the new @usembassyhn are outside the current embassy right now asking @USAmbHonduras Laura Dogu to come out and address their grievances re:labor abuses by @StateDept contractor @BLHarbert.
There’s some Honduran media there- this is a reporter with @HCHTelevDigital. I’ll link to articles as they come out.
@HCHTelevDigital Sign held by protesting @BLHarbert worker reminds @USAmbHonduras/@Trabajohn "Art.79 of the [Honduran] constitution stipulates: All persons have the right to public assembly & peaceful demonstration relating to their common interests of any kind w/o special permit or notification"
One aspect of the dissolution of the USSR that I hadn't previously considered, was the tremendous new source of profit in @StateDept embassy construction. In this 2014 puff piece, @BLHarbert CEO Billy Harbert explains: bizjournals.com/birmingham/pri…
"In 1992, the Berlin Wall came down & @StateDept had to build 12 new embassies in the new Commonwealth of Independent States. We were awarded 4 of them in Transcaucasia & we spent the next 4 years building new facilities in countries which were formerly part of the Soviet Union."
Since the construction boom made possible by the neoliberal takeover of formerly socialist economies (w/ devastating consequences for citizens) @BLHarbert has made many billions from US taxpayer $$$s on the terror threat, building & rebuilding fortress embassies around the world.
Construction workers at the site of the new @usembassyhn in Tegucigalpa are out early this morning for a second day of work stoppage protesting labor abuses by @StateDept contractor @BLHarbert. I’ll post here as I get updates. #Honduras#Solidarity
@usembassyhn@StateDept@BLHarbert Direct action (+lots of solidarity) on the way to getting the goods this AM for workers building the oversized fortress that will be the new @usembassyhn in Honduras. Workers showed up @ 5am; soon after a (US) manager from @BLHarbert came out to meet them & hear their demands...
@usembassyhn@StateDept@BLHarbert The workers at the new US Embassy in Honduras (apparently all 900 of them) are refusing to start up work again until @BLHarbert signs their list of demands. There is some sort of delay in getting it translated. Took me five minutes to do this very rough translation.