Demands to Management

February Nine labor leaders including all top officials of one major federation were arrested in a Catholic retreat center by armed police. The police raid was based on an alleged tip that rifles and bazookas were stored there, but the police conceded that they had found no weapons, "although they did confiscate most of the union files." Union leaders charged that they were forced to sign written confessions after a week of interrogation, sometimes beatings. None was charged with a crime; the official accusation was that they were planning to "present demands to management for higher wages and benefits and promoting strikes, which destabilize the economy."