U.S. Union Delegation Takes On Workers’ Rights in Colombia

CWA President Larry Cohen and other members of a labor delegation to Colombia briefed members of Congress and staff at a Capitol Hill forum about their meetings with Colombian unionists and elected officials and provided some important lessons about U.S. trade policy, including the need for strong opposition to the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. 

"I had an opportunity to hear first-hand the experiences of hundreds of courageous working men and women who are fighting against conditions difficult for us to imagine as they persevere to gain real democracy with bargaining and workplace rights for Colombian workers," he told the forum.

"The status of workers in Colombia — a nation where out of a workforce of 18 million, just 2 million are considered to be employees — is a critical part of the fight over the Free Trade Agreement. Trade agreements should balance not just finance, capital and investment, but must address the status and bargaining rights of workers. In the United States, we have a long way to go to restore bargaining rights for workers and Colombia lags far behind our nation," he said.

The labor delegation met with Colombian union and labor federation leaders and participated in a vigil for slain union activists. They also met with President Uribe for two hours and with other government officials. At every meeting, the labor delegation pressed for labor law reform and stronger action to investigate and curb the killings of unionists by right-wing paramilitary forces.

In the last 20 years in Colombia, 2,574 unionists have been murdered, including 39 in 2007 and five so far this year. Telecom workers are regularly fired, as 10,000 were recently from the main telecom company operated by Telefonica. The rights of public workers, including teachers, have been wiped out. Municipal workers from Cali saw 51 leaders fired, yet years after the International Labor Organization found that they were fired for union activity, they have not been reinstated.

"I came away from this trip with a bracelet that bears the name of a woman trade unionist who had been murdered — Figueroa Magnolia Apia, murdered on March 11, 1997. I also came away fully inspired by what we heard and saw and fully confident that Colombian labor activists can and will change their country. We in the labor movements in both countries want to help shape how the global economy works for working families.