The project has led to the establishment of a legal department within the CGTP, and trade union leaders are receiving training to enable them to set up frontline legal departments within their unions.

When drawing up the project, neither the Peruvians nor the Belgians imagined that it would contribute to the release of trade unionists from prison or to the filing of so many lawsuits against employers.

Indeed, many trade unionists are being placed behind bars as a result of the legislation criminalising social protest.

Exploiting the anti-union climate, employers are dismissing all workers involved in establishing a workplace trade union or trying to form one. These same employers are also blocking the establishment of federations organised by sector.

The project is working with pilot trade unions such as the one organised at Prosegur, the Spanish private security multinational known for the exploitation of its workers in Latin America.

In 2014, unionised Prosegur workers in Peru and Colombia were violently attacked for daring to voice their grievances. Colombian cash-in-transit workers were asking for bulletproof vests...

Together, we are stronger! The CG FGTB joined the UNI Global Union campaign calling on Prosegur to respect workers’ rights and provide better working conditions. In Peru, thanks to the support of FGTB Brussels-IFSI, the CGTP lawyer, Gisella Figueroa, who is also the project coordinator, successfully led the negotiations.

On 24 July 2015, the Prosegur union signed a CBA recognising most of the workers’ demands!