Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
CWA Helps Colombian Union Stand Against Violence and Corruption
In 2001, public sector union leader Hector Giraldo fled Colombia under a death threat. After seeing his union president gunned down by paramilitaries, he spent a year in the United States, spreading the word to trade unionists and others about the horrors union members face in his country. More than 2,100 unionists have been killed in Colombia since 1991.
His stay was funded in part by CWA's Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union Solidarity Fund. CWA District 1 locals adopted SINTRAOFAN as a sister union, and have since channeled $40,000 in contributions through the Diaz fund to help it organize and fight back.
The violence against unionists in Colombia continues, as CWA Local 1365 President Gary Nilsson can attest. Accompanied by Giraldo and others, he recently visited the Medellin region of Colombia for 10 days. His trip arranged by the District 1 Solidarity Committee, he traveled as part of a larger labor delegation sponsored by the U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project, a partner of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.
SINTRAOFAN has lost about 80 percent of its members due to assassination, firings and intimidation by right-wing government employers and paramilitaries who support them. Much of what CWA members and locals have contributed has been spent defending workers illegally fired, who turn to the courts for help.
Trials for illegal firings are held four hours away from Medellin to make it difficult for witnesses and attorneys to attend.
Though on paper the South American country has progressive labor laws to protect workers, "the paramilitaries show up at the trials and tell the government who is testifying," Nilsson said. "The government will fire them, and paramilitaries are murdering them. If you murder three or four witnesses, you scare all of them. Murder a couple of attorneys, the word gets around that their lives are in danger."
Down to little more than 200 members, SINTRAOFAN spends a lot of its money flying attorneys to the trials because it is too dangerous for them to travel by land.
CWA contributions also help SINTRAOFAN educate the general public in 33 communities about unionism, organized labor and the dangers for workers in so-called "free trade" agreements such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and help fund political causes that are important to union members and the Colombian labor movement.
"Because of all the terminations of our members and the loss of revenues because of those terminations, the funds and support from CWA have been essential in helping us maintain our union operations," SINTRAOFAN President Hernando Alberto Echeverri said.
Nilsson said CWA's "efforts to bridge associations and affiliations with brothers and sisters outside the United States have certainly been successful with SINTRAOFAN and should definitely continue, and consideration should be given to expanding such efforts."
How to Help
To support CWA's work internationally, locals are encouraged to donate to the Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union Fund. Send checks payable to CWA/Union-to-Union to CWA Secretary Barbara Easterling, 501 3rd St., N.W., Washington, DC 20001.
To learn more about the Colombian situation and Giraldo's time in the United States, you can order a 25-minute video that District 1 helped produce. "Hector Giraldo: Trade Unionist," is available for $5 for VHS, $10 for DVD, plus $3 shipping. For orders and more information, send an e-mail to: julieerosenberg@comcast.net.
His stay was funded in part by CWA's Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union Solidarity Fund. CWA District 1 locals adopted SINTRAOFAN as a sister union, and have since channeled $40,000 in contributions through the Diaz fund to help it organize and fight back.
The violence against unionists in Colombia continues, as CWA Local 1365 President Gary Nilsson can attest. Accompanied by Giraldo and others, he recently visited the Medellin region of Colombia for 10 days. His trip arranged by the District 1 Solidarity Committee, he traveled as part of a larger labor delegation sponsored by the U.S./Labor Education in the Americas Project, a partner of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.
SINTRAOFAN has lost about 80 percent of its members due to assassination, firings and intimidation by right-wing government employers and paramilitaries who support them. Much of what CWA members and locals have contributed has been spent defending workers illegally fired, who turn to the courts for help.
Trials for illegal firings are held four hours away from Medellin to make it difficult for witnesses and attorneys to attend.
Though on paper the South American country has progressive labor laws to protect workers, "the paramilitaries show up at the trials and tell the government who is testifying," Nilsson said. "The government will fire them, and paramilitaries are murdering them. If you murder three or four witnesses, you scare all of them. Murder a couple of attorneys, the word gets around that their lives are in danger."
Down to little more than 200 members, SINTRAOFAN spends a lot of its money flying attorneys to the trials because it is too dangerous for them to travel by land.
CWA contributions also help SINTRAOFAN educate the general public in 33 communities about unionism, organized labor and the dangers for workers in so-called "free trade" agreements such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and help fund political causes that are important to union members and the Colombian labor movement.
"Because of all the terminations of our members and the loss of revenues because of those terminations, the funds and support from CWA have been essential in helping us maintain our union operations," SINTRAOFAN President Hernando Alberto Echeverri said.
Nilsson said CWA's "efforts to bridge associations and affiliations with brothers and sisters outside the United States have certainly been successful with SINTRAOFAN and should definitely continue, and consideration should be given to expanding such efforts."
How to Help
To support CWA's work internationally, locals are encouraged to donate to the Eduardo Diaz Union-to-Union Fund. Send checks payable to CWA/Union-to-Union to CWA Secretary Barbara Easterling, 501 3rd St., N.W., Washington, DC 20001.
To learn more about the Colombian situation and Giraldo's time in the United States, you can order a 25-minute video that District 1 helped produce. "Hector Giraldo: Trade Unionist," is available for $5 for VHS, $10 for DVD, plus $3 shipping. For orders and more information, send an e-mail to: julieerosenberg@comcast.net.