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U.S., Colombian Workers Agree Trade Deal Hurts Both Countries |
As the climate of fear and intimidation against union members continues in Colombia, the U.S. Congress must not approve the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA), lawmakers and Colombian union leaders said today.
Seven Colombian trade union leaders traveled to the United States to lobby Congress to oppose the agreement. They say despite claims by the Bush administration and Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe that progress has been made in stemming the violence against union members, the reality is that violence has increased against labor leaders in Colombia.
At a Capitol Hill press conference today, Luís Alfonso Velásquez Rico, a member of the national executive committee of the Unitary Workers Center and the rubber and leather workers’ union, said the Uribe and Bush administrations have tunnel vision when it comes to Colombia. He says they are looking only at cracking down on drug trafficking while the problem of violence against union members is just as important.
Which is more important—to try someone for transporting five kilos of cocaine or killing 2,000 union members?
He says the workers plan to file a complaint with the International Labor Organization over Colombia’s violations of human and labor rights.
Communications Workers of America (CWA) President Larry Cohen praised the bravery of the Colombian workers as “amazing” and said there are three reasons to not approve a Colombia free trade deal. First is the abysmal record on violence against union members.
Second, Colombia is the “worst example in the world” of a nation that has restructured its economy, Cohen said, with only 2 percent of the workforce unionized, compared with 36 percent in neighboring Brazil. The Uribe government has privatized schools and several key industries.
Workers have no rights. Only owners have rights. This is capitalism run amok.
Finally, with an opportunity to increase the Democratic majority in Congress and elect a worker-friendly president, now is the best time for workers to demand a trade policy that works for everyone, Cohen said.
The violence against trade union members in Colombia has claimed more than 2,500 lives since 1986, including 39 murdered in 2007 and another 23 killed so far in 2008—a rate of more than one a week. Yet the Colombian government has obtained convictions in fewer than 3 percent of the cases and has done little to stop the bloodshed or guarantee worker and human rights in the country.
By a 224–195 vote in April, the House removed the 90-day deadline under Fast Track trade-promotion authority for an up-or-down vote on the Colombia FTA. The vote will delay consideration of the deal indefinitely, probably until after Bush leaves office in January. In fact, Bush told reporters the deal is dead unless House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) schedules a vote.
Ivan Torro Lopez, a member of the executive committee of Colombia’s National Association of Bank Workers, said the Colombian trade agreement should not have been negotiated under the current conditions. He stressed that the country is years away from eliminating the impunity, intimidation and killings of trade union members.
The effort to keep Colombians from joining unions comes from the highest level of the government. In practice, it is a crime to form a labor union and we have to do it in secret.
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said President Bush’s insistence on passing the Colombia deal goes against what the nation stands for.
The President must not forsake our nation’s values, the rule of law and the sacrifices of so many in the labor movement. The bottom line is that the violence is not subsiding. For the sake of both our nations, we should not sign a trade agreement with Columbia.
Rep. Mike Michaud (D- Maine) said Congress will not pass a trade deal that
rewards a country whose record of violence against union organizers is nothing short of disgraceful and outrageous.
The U.S. union movement is united in opposing the Colombia FTA. Last month, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney stated the AFL-CIO position on the Colombia FTA remains unchanged
The violence, murders, impunity and violations of workers’ rights in Colombia must end. Until and unless the Colombian government achieves sustained results on the ground to that effect, the AFL-CIO will muster all its resources in opposition to this agreement.
Today, on Capitol Hill, Bruce Raynor, president of UNITE HERE, said:
With the U.S. economy in recession, the last thing we need is another job killing trade agreement. U.S. trade policy has been driven by corporations who put profit over the interests of people. Today we demonstrate that workers in both the U.S. and Colombia reject the U.S. Colombia trade agreement.
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Unions in Peru, indigenous people of Peru, family farmers in Peru, the church in Peru, and unions here in the U.S. all objected to the US/Peru Free Trade Agreement.
And what did the geniuses in Congress do? Jammed it down our throats! And labor’s response? It put its tail between its legs just like it did when Clinton I jammed NAFTA down our throats.
Wake up and smell the coffee America! Congress is selling the working class down the tubes!
And labor’s response? (See above.)
I have been baffled why Bush is pushing so hard for the Colombian FTA and why the Clinton’s are saying they are divided about Colombia. The FTA with Korea and Panama both already had better approval ratings in congress, but Bush sent the Colombian FTA instead when it is obvious that the FTA is bad for workers in both countries. I also wondered about why Clinton pushed for Plan Colombia when the best drug advisors in the USA stated that it would not solve and could actually continue the drug problem (which they have been shown to be correct about).
Rich A’s comment reminded me of a few writings done about the FTA with Peru in which is was stated that it gave oil companies more rights than either the citizens of Peru or the USA. So I did a little digging and found this very interesting article linking Oil, Gore and Clinton. This also explains the Republican interest in Colombia.
http://www.commondreams.org/views/050500-103.htm
One should also keep in mind that $98 million of US taxpayer money for Plan Colombia went to protect the Occidental pipeline. While in 2006, Ray Irani, CEO of Occidental made over $400 million.
Colombia has one of the most unequal distributions of wealth in the world. Massive corruption helps keeps it that way. Passage of the FTA at this time would only perpetuate the discrepancy of rich and poor in Colombia and help American corporations at the expense of workers in both countries.