According to Labour Start, Orhan Akman, who is a German trade union activist, has been removed from Peru and barred from returning to the country. At the time Akman had been working for UNI Americas in Peru. UNI Global Union, based in Nyon, Switzerland, represents more than 20 million workers from over 900 trade unions across the skills and services sector. The ‘Americas’ was the branch of the union working within South America. Akman had been with the organization for several years.
Akman had been promoting the right to join trade union and with establishing collective bargaining rights in several companies. This included a successful campaign within Cencosud, a publicly traded multinational retail company (the largest such organization in Chile.) Akman’s organizational strategy included running several peaceful campaigns.
Perhaps through business sector pressure, the Peruvian government reacted adversely to Akamn’s tactics. The German citizen was accused of “disrupting public order, tranquillity and social peace.” For these reasons he has been refused re-entry to the country.
Orhan Akman and the UNI Global Union have challenged these claims, as well as asking for evidence. No such evidence, Labour Start notes, has been produced. For this reason a petition has been set-up to demand that Akman’s name be cleared and that he be allowed to return to the country.
Prior to Akman’s expulsion, UNI voiced concerns about the German’s physical safety. The union alleges that Akman was tailed, photographed and intimidated by security staff.
In addition to the petition, the UNI Deputy General Secretary Christy Hoffman, together with other members of the union, have visited the Peruvian Consulate in Geneva. Here the campaigners presented a letter to the President of Peru calling on Akman to be allowed freedom of movement and that trade union rights were respected in Peru.
Following this, Hoffman stated: “It’s unacceptable that the Peruvian government can expel people from the country for peaceful protests. We demand that Peru respects worker and trade union rights such as freedom of association, peaceful protests and collective bargaining.”
