Decree 40-2022

This decree establishes April 28th as National Construction Workers' Day in Honduras, commemorating the Great Strike of 1954, a landmark event in labor history. The Honduran Chamber of the Construction Industry will award annual prizes and honors to outstanding construction workers on this date.

Whereas, April 28, 1954 is a memorable date in the history of the Honduran labor movement, as on that date several important events were recorded that contributed to triggering the Great General Strike that covered all technical departments and plantations of the transnational banana companies, located in the Northern Zone of the country, a Labor Stoppage that began in the construction departments of the Tela Railroad Company, an event that in sum caused a milestone for the organization and development of the national working class.

Whereas, the date mentioned in the preceding Whereas is well remembered by Honduran workers because at this moment in their history, the leaders of the labor movement had the opportunity to meet and unanimously agree to carry out an indefinite strike and to plan in detail all the actions that workers would take in all work centers of transnational companies, located in the territories conceded by the government of Honduras, an act that thereafter became known as the Great Strike of '54.

Whereas, the commemoration mentioned in the preceding whereases, the initial activities were clandestine, likewise the strategies and tactics developed by workers in the different production centers of the banana companies, which converged in common actions that promoted general understanding among workers, the maturity of labor analysis of the context, and the strengthening of labor leadership, making it possible to clearly visualize all existing inequalities in working conditions, the unjust relationships promoted in the departments, plantations, and offices of banana fruit shipment to the United States of America, the scarce remuneration received for human overexertion, and the mistreatment received from transnational companies, aspects that justified and concretized the joint determination of the workers.

Whereas, it is a felt necessity for all construction workers to rescue this commemoration, whose date is very significant because thanks to this circumstance, it was possible to achieve the ordering of operations that made the Great Strike of '54 a reality, and its impact brought a series of negative reactions that workers succeeded in effectively rejecting, to convert threats into strengths that subsequently favored the struggle and the attainment of all labor petitions and prerogatives demanded, which later merged into the Labor Code, which became the reference law for Honduran workers.

Whereas, for the reasons set forth in the preceding whereases, it is essential to update applicable legal provisions and establish clear rules, given the high cost of living in our country.

Whereas, it is necessary to establish April 28 in Honduras as the National Day of Construction Workers, aligning it internationally with the annual celebration of the International Day of Health and Safety at Work, an occasion on which construction workers and their organizations commemorate it to honor so many fellow workers who have died in the exercise of construction work, considering this economic activity to be of high risk and civil danger to human life.

Whereas, without an event like that which occurred on April 28, 1954 mentioned in the preceding Whereas, the benefits achieved by the General Strike and the strength of the leadership of the Honduran labor movement would not have been possible, since that date marked a before and after in the history of labor legislation of the Republic of Honduras, it indicated the direction of future modernization of the Honduran State in terms of governance, governability, social justice, and labor organizational freedom.

Whereas, in accordance with Article 205, Attribution 1) of the Constitution of the Republic, it is within the power of the National Congress to: Create, decree, interpret, reform, and repeal laws.