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AFL-CIO Delegation to Colombia: ‘No Trade Deal Until Murders, Union-Busting Stop’ |
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A delegation of AFL-CIO leaders to Colombia wound up a two-day fact-finding trip today by telling Colombian President Alvaro Uribe the U.S. union movement cannot support the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement until real progress is made to protect the lives and rights of trade union members.
AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Emerita Linda Chavez-Thompson, Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen and United Steelworkers (USW) counsel Dan Kovalik met over the past two days with Colombian union leaders, International Labor Organization representatives in Colombia and elected leaders.
They found Colombia’s unionists still operate in a climate of fear in the country, where 40 trade unionists were murdered in 2007. They also ascertained the government has systematically undermined union members’ rights while exerting little effort to address the murders of Colombian trade unionists, despite some new government initiatives.
As Chavez-Thompson says:
Despite the Colombian and United States governments’ assertions to the contrary, there has been too little real progress in ending the brutality that trade unionists face in Colombia. In 2008 alone, five trade unionists have been murdered—almost one per week.
In the meeting with Uribe, the delegation pressed him to do more to end the impunity surrounding the murders of trade unionists.
Chavez-Thompson added:
The meeting with President Uribe was important to send a strong message of solidarity with the Colombian unions. Our job here is to support them in their struggle to rebuild the union movement after decades of violence and the steady erosion of legal rights.
Yesterday, the delegation met with the leaders of the major Colombian labor federations in a round table exchange about the rights of trade unionists in Colombia and the United States. All the Colombian union leaders told the delegation they oppose any free trade deal between the United States and Colombia until the government takes strong action to stop the violence against trade union members and ends the government’s assaults on union rights. They emphasized that the trade agreement in its current form will create more economic insecurity in their country and hurt workers more.
The Colombian union leaders also detailed a government policy of “busting unions.” As an example, they pointed to the Uribe government’s refusal to follow a court order to reinstate give back pay to members of the oil workers’ union who struck recently.
Cohen said the Colombian government is systematically destroying workers’ rights: Only about 1 percent of Colombian workers have union contracts, putting their right to bargain collectively below even that in the United States. He says:
It is the lowest rate in the hemisphere, and among the worst in the world.They are killing the unions, not just the union leaders.
Last year, Kovalik, who had traveled to Colombia previously, condemned the large amount of military aid the United States gives to that country. (See video above.)
In an act of solidarity with Colombian workers, the delegation participated last night in a memorial ceremony and vigil for murdered trade unionists organized by the Colombian labor unions. At the ceremony, Chavez-Thompson pointed out the links between trade union members around the world:
We are here on this solemn occasion to pay homage to the thousands of Colombian trade unionists who sacrificed their lives for what they believed in. And we are here to celebrate their lives, because they died to better the lives of their sisters and brothers, in Colombia and throughout the world.
According to a recent AFL-CIO report, although the number of trade unionists’ deaths in Colombia decreased last year, the Colombian government still is doing far too little. Workers’ Rights, Violence and Impunity in Colombia shows the combination of ongoing assassinations, death threats and violence against union family members creates a climate of fear for trade unionists that makes it impossible for them to fully and confidently exercise their freedom to form unions, bargain collectively, go on strike or criticize the government.
After Colombia, the Philippines had the next highest rate of murdered trade unionists, with 33 murdered last year. There also were 201 death threats against trade unionists in 2007. (Click here to read the report.)
2 Comments
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It is good that a union delegation went to Colombia and to dispel the half-truths spread by the Whitehouse from their many congressional junkets. Let’s just hope that the media provides the same consideration as that given to the Bush administration. But what I have seen of some of the reporters following the union delegation makes me have doubts.
Colombia is a different world than the USA. It is difficult for reporters to even understand without living there. One must remember that 20% of the population has over 60% of the wealth. The 20% control the government and for them the FTA as written is excellent. However over 50% of the population lives below the poverty level. The disparity between rich and poor in the country remains one of the largest in the world, some reports have put it as high as 58 times. In order for there to be a market for American goods there needs to be people who can afford them.
Indeed the treatment of union members is important. Even more important is the need to eliminate fear in workers for exercising their right to organize. There are hundreds of thousands who work in terrible conditions and would like organize, but don’t for fear of death. It is bad enough that the government linked paramilitary is said to be responsible for the majority of murders of union members, but a U.S. State department report has even said Colombian military troops are responsible for some.
It was mentioned in the article how the government refused to support a court order for pay. The recent increase in minimum wage is another example of how the government does not respect workers. When a committee of business and labor failed to reach an agreement on a percent increase, the government made the decision giving just 10% of the difference between the two groups and basically just allowing workers to keep up with inflation.
Dan Kovalik is correct in condemning the large amount of military aid to the country. Colombia is the largest recipient of U.S. taxpayer’s money outside of the Middle East. And the bang for the buck in fighting drugs and terrorists has been very negligible. Many reports show an increase in drugs coming from Colombia. But more important is the reason. Many of the 80% of Colombians not in the rich and elite group state that American aid only continues the drugs because many government officials make money from it through the massive corruption. A report by members of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights is titled, “U.S. aid Exacerbates Abuse in Colombia.” It is that problem of corruption that allows laws written on the books about workers rights and safety to be ignored.
In the late 1990’s over 75% of the American population thought the Colombian government corrupt. Colombia spent over $3.1 million in just commissions alone with the American PR firm of Sawyer/Miller to change that image for the purpose of getting American aid. While the image changed, the corruption did not.
Colombia has made some strides for improvement. Some are through spun numbers; some are through half truths (i.e. murders are down, but they forget to say that forced disappearances are up), and some, while an improvement, are simply just not enough (i.e. reduction in deaths of union members, but they still lead the world in them).
Colombia has the potential to become a valuable trading partner for the USA, but first there needs to not only be laws protecting workers, but positive sustained proof that they are being enforced. That is not something that comes in a short amount of time with the spinning of words and numbers. The South American country, referred to Bush as an ally, needs to aggressively attack corruption and bring perpetrators of crimes to justice quickly with sufficient sentences, especially those of the security forces and the rich and elite.
‘No Trade Deal Until Murders, Union-Busting Stop’
This makes so much common sense I doubt if President Bush will go for it.