Document #1001216
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
The information that follows was provided
by the Secretary General of the UTC (CUTCSA Workers Union) and
UNOTT (National Union of Transport Workers) transport unions, who
is also one of the three coordinators of the PIT-CNT (National
Workers Central) of Uruguay (2 Sep. 1994).
COTSUR always belonged to UNOTT as an
affiliate; the cooperative enterprise was owned and managed by its
members. When COTSUR went bankrupt, its transport lines were opened
to tender and became the property of other companies. Most of the
lines were transferred to other cooperatives (RAINCOOP and COETC),
and one of the lines was transferred to a private company called
COMESA (a Sociedad Anónima, roughly equivalent to
"Incorporated" in Canadian business law). COTSUR workers were
distributed among the new owners of the lines; those who went to
the cooperatives became co-op employees, while those who became
employees of COMESA did so as shareholders. UNOTT is a union and
the workers of COMESA and the cooperatives COETC and RAINCOOP are
affiliated to UNOTT; when the COTSUR employees moved to these
companies, they continued to be affiliated to UNOTT.
This response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does
not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular
claim to refugee status or asylum.
UTC/UNOTT, Montevideo. 2 September 1994.
Fax received by DIRB.