Teamsters Stand With Jimena Lopez, Women Union Leaders On International Women's Day

Teamsters Join Global Labor Movement in Support of Lopez, Women Workers

News provided by

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Mar 08, 2015, 12:12 ET

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Teamsters Union honors International Women's Day today, standing in solidarity with Jimena Lopez, a woman union leader who was fired during a successful union organizing effort at LAN Ecuador, an subsidiary of LAN Airlines, the largest airline in Latin America.

Lopez is one of many women union leaders around the world fighting for the rights of workers to organize. She is the general secretary and founder of SITA, the union representing cabin crew at LAN Ecuador.

"It is wrong and unjust when workers like Jimena Lopez are fired for exercising their fundamental right to form a union. The Teamsters Union stands with Lopez and all women workers around the globe in fighting to secure and defend their rights," said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President.

An international delegation of trade unionists is in Ecuador to protest the unjust firing of Lopez by LAN Ecuador. They are meeting with Lopez, SITA members and other aviation workers, as well as the Ecuadorian government, which supports demands for Lopez's reinstatement. There will also be a demonstration in support of women workers.

"Every worker should have the right to freely form a union to improve their workplace. I am honored, and so are the 80,000 Teamster aviation members who make up the Teamsters Airline Division, to stand by our sister Jimena Lopez. We call on LAN Ecuador to reinstate her and to respect their workers' union," said Capt. David Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division.

Teamsters Local 2010 representatives in Oakland, Calif., contacted LATAM Airlines Group CEO Enrique Cueto Plaza directly, asking for the situation to be resolved and Lopez put back to work. LATAM is the holding group for LAN Ecuador.

"Teamsters Local 2010 represents 14,000 workers at the University of California, 81 percent of which are women. On International Women's Day, women workers from around the world stand in solidarity with the Ecuadorian government in asking LAN Ecuador to reverse its decision and bring justice to Jimena and the aviation workers she has been organizing," said Catherine Cobb, President of Local 2010, and Jason Rabinowitz, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 2010, in their letter.

In April, Teamsters Local 769 in Miami joined the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) in showing support to LAN Express flight attendants in Chile and LAN mechanics in Peru, taking part in informational leafleting about their contract fight.

The ITF has made Jimena Lopez's case a centerpiece of its worldwide mobilization for International Women's Day. For more information on Lopez and International Women's Day activities, visit: www.8March2015.org.

To learn more about the Teamsters, International Women's Day and Women's History Month, visit: http://teamster.org/womens-history-month.

Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.

Contact:
Kara Deniz, (202) 624-6911
[email protected]

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SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters