CNV

Brussels, 19 January 2011 - A brutal assault on the right to work is being developed in Chile, country in the southern part of South America, in strict compliance with state policies of the regime headed by the billionaire Sebastián Piñera Echenique, to the detriment of working journalists, the graphic production and administration sector. To date and since early January this year nearly 500 professional, technical and auxiliary of the written press and of television have been laid off.


The most recent information gained by the Federation of Social Communication Workers – FELATRACS indicates that 101 workers of Channel 13 have been dismissed and it is expected the other 199 workers are facing the same fate. Among those affected are the well-known journalists Pablo Honorato, and former regional director of the Colegio de Periodistas de Chile (Association of Journalists of Chile), Alipio Vera, as well as journalists from Channel 13 online and a cameraman from the news department.

The situation is also very dramatic for the state newspaper "La Nación" where the notice of dismissal is currently affecting 193 workers, including journalists, diagramers (those who guide the process of arranging material on a newspaper page, according to editorial and graphical guidelines and goals), photographers and administrators, under the pretext of launching a process of "modernization", transferring the service of the daily old printed newspaper to a system of information on line.

Marcelo Castillo, president of the Colegio de Periodistas de Chile (Association of Journalists of Chile) has expressed that there is a grim picture for individual journalists in particular, and workers in media, in general, referring to the fact that in addition to, Channel 13, now the property of business-group Luksic, and the newspaper "La Nación", owned in majority by the Chilean State, the same is true in other media as the "Diario Uno", where there have been a total of approximately 500 cases reported of workers who have been stripped of their right to work.

Victor Perez, leader of the National Federation of Workers of the Social Media in Chile – FENTRAMCO, and Nancy Arancibia , both trade union leaders within the newspaper "La Nación", criticized the inproper and unclean manner as to how the company is leading the transformation-process and the little appreciation for the workers, who they informed of their dismissals at the last moment.

While on the one hand employees of "La Nación" have resorted to the courts to prevent the definitive closure of the newspaper, on the other hand, the Colegio de Periodistas de Chile has gone on to record to deputies and senators of the National Congress, that the closure of the newspaper demonstrates a flagrant violation of freedom of expression and a reinforcement in favour of the monopoly of information that benefits and favours the large media companies, reason for why they demand the intervention of Parliament through a committee of inquiry.

On the other hand, while Sebastián Piñera, a conspicuous member of the National Renovation Party and owner, according to Forbes magazine, of a fortune estimated at 2.2 billion U.S. dollars and therefore one of the largest and richest in the country, ignores public protests such as those made by employees of "La Nación" and more recently, two other demonstrations of employees of Channel 13 as to requests from the unions of journalists and media workers in Latin America and Europe, FELATRACS has assumed the task of holding an international campaign directed to the trade unions and organizations that defend human rights, urging those who adhere to the values and principles of democracy to join in this campaign of solidarity with Chilean workers of social media.

Lima, 21 January 2011