From: Colombian Labor Monitor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Mon, 28 May 2001 10:26:29 -0500 (CDT)
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: COLOMBIA REPORT: Four Recent Articles
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COLOMBIAN LABOR MONITOR
www.prairienet.org/clm
Monday, 28 May 2001
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* COLOMBIA REPORT *
* colombiareport.org *
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1. COLOMBIA REPORT -- May 14, 2001
Labor Leaders Targeted
by Javier Correa Correa
COLOMBIA REPORT
www.colombiareport.org
May 14, 2001
Labor Leaders Targeted
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By Javier Correa Correa
Colombia's labor movement is increasingly under fire, caught between armed
violence that often targets union leaders, and labor practices that
undermine rights won by workers over the years. "People engaged in labor
activity run a greater risk in Colombia than anywhere else in the world,"
says Cervulo Bautista of the General Confederation of Democratic Workers
(CGTD) human rights commission. Last year, 128 labor leaders were killed
in Colombia, almost one every other day. So far this year, more than 10
union leaders have met violent deaths.
According to the Jesuit-run Research and Popular Education Center (CINEP)
in Bogota, between January 1 and October 30 last year there were 277
attacks on union leaders and 870 on union members. This year, on January
9, hooded men broke into the home of Luis Felipe de la Rosa Salcedo,
president of Sinaltrabavaria, the Bavaria beer company union, in the
department of Narino on the Ecuadorian border. A week later in Neiva,
capital of the southern department of Huila, the owner of a beer
distributor threatened to kill Helmer Gutierrez, regional Sinaltrabavaria
president. Union leaders demanded an investigation and guarantees to
protect the "life, physical integrity and labor freedoms of union
members."
On January 26, teacher Walter Dione Perea was killed by men who broke into
his house in Copacabana, outside Medellin. Dione Perea was a union
representative of the Teachers Association of Antioquia. Last year, 28
members of the union were murdered, according to the region's organization
of base Christian communities.
Bautista considers the outlook bleak, pointing out that business owners
can take advantage of the country's chaotic, violent atmosphere to
threaten and attack union leaders. In addition, he says, most murders of
union leaders, community and political leaders, human rights defenders,
students and campesinos go unpunished. About 30,000 Colombians die
violently every year.
Paramilitary groups, which claim that union supporters aid the country's
guerrilla insurgency, are accused of being responsible for most of these
murders. Some attacks claim individual victims, while others are
massacres. Last year, 344 massacres between January and September left
1,844 people dead, according to the Human Rights Defense Committee (CDDH).
Late last year, paramilitaries announced the formation of a new force, the
Capital Block, in Bogota. One of the group's first acts was the attempted
murder of Wilson Borja Diaz, president of the National Federation of State
Service Workers (FENALTRASE) and a member of the commission working on a
peace process with the National Liberation Army (ELN). Borja survived the
December 15 attack in Bogota.
While paramilitaries took responsibility for the attack, Police Captain
Carlos Freddy Gomez was arrested in Bogota on February 7. He is accused of
participating in the murder attempt, along with three other police and 10
army officers. On April 7, the prosecutor investigating the case
determined that military personnel from the Third Army Brigade in Cali
were also involved.
Bautista links labor rights to the country's off-and-on peace
negotiations, which started up again in February with the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country's largest guerrilla group. He
has called for negotiators to place on the agenda sanctions for companies
or public officials who finance or support armed groups operating outside
the law. He also urges judicial reforms and "guarantees of the rights to
union organization, collective bargaining, strike, peaceful protest, work,
social security and life."
Armed violence is not the only threat to union members and leaders in
Colombia. Bautista says there has also been a trend toward erosion of
workers' rights and more "flexible" labor regulations. In many cases, he
says, when unions present grievances, management counters with offers that
withdraw rights that had been guaranteed under the workers' contracts.
This occurred in the state-run Social Security Institute, which still owes
employees US$228 million for a retroactive pay increase granted last year,
as well as pay due in January to employees, contractors and retirees. The
union has proposed several solutions. Finance Minister Juan Manuel Santos
announced that the government would lend the Social Security Institute
$160 million for the back pay, but only if the workers gave up certain
labor rights affecting job stability, including protection against
replacement by outside contractors. Union leader Saul Pena called the
offer "blackmail about something that's non-negotiable."
Santos has also proposed measures that would loosen labor regulations and
close state agencies throughout the country. The proposals would result in
the layoff of 42,000 public employees, who would join the 5 million
Colombians already unemployed. On February 6, the United Workers Central
(CUT), Colombian Workers Central (DTC) and CGTD staged a protest against
contract counteroffers made by a number of employers, including the Social
Security Institute, Colombian Red Cross and Bavaria beer company.
Red Cross employees went on strike in January, but suspended the job
action for a week to send personnel to El Salvador in the aftermath of the
earthquake that struck there on January 13. Management had made a
counteroffer under which union benefits would have been withdrawn.
Employees returned to work after an arbitration board was named to resolve
the dispute.
Bavaria also made an offer after 6,000 workers went on strike December 20
in 16 plants producing beer, bottled water and juice. Last year, Ardila
Lulle, which owns Bavaria and 150 other companies, registered profits of
$182 million, leading workers to protest the company's plans to eliminate
severance pay when laying off workers with more than 15 years' seniority
and decrease workers' compensation for plant closures and work force
reductions.
Labor Minister Angelino Garzon, a former union leader, has expressed
concern over the trend in companies' counteroffers, saying they "lead to
tension and confrontation and undermine constitutional rights and
principles of dialogue and consensus."
Copyright 2001 Information Network of the Americas (INOTA)
Copyright 2001 Information Network of the Americas (INOTA)
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