Spot the Fake

6 Feb 2012

Ask any union organizer what time it is. They will tell you, “It’s time to organize!” In Yakari, Valle de Cauca in Colombia that’s exactly what sugar cane cutters are doing.

Early morning on Monday, February 6, myself and members of the Witness for Peace Women Leading the way for Peace and Justice Colombia delegation drive into the Valle de Cauca to meet sugar cane cutters who are unionizing. We meet them in the Sugar Cane Cutters Square, a public square, at 5 a.m. It is still dark out, only the city lights and headlights from the buses rolling in and dropping off the workers can be seen. Little by little, over 200 workers fill the square. The union organizer Alberto Bejarano and union leaders such as Omar, stand on top of a landing and speak to the workers, a mix of union contract updates and hopeful messages.

The union is in negotiations for a direct contract with the powerful sugar cane companies. There are 14 main sugar cane companies in Colombia. It is said that they also control a large portion of the ports as well. In three of the sugar cane factories, the sugar cane cutters have a union contract with a third party, or cooperativa. This is the same as a subcontractor. We know that subcontracting isn’t the most stable for working conditions. In fact, the Labor Action Plan that was attached to the Colombian Free Trade Agreement, the use of cooperativas was to be illegal. The sugar cane barons have gotten around this and have changed the structure and the names of the cooperativas so on the surface they don’t appear to exist.

The Sugar Cane Barons have not let the union organizing just happen. The companies charged four workers and two advisors with criminal conspiracy and sabotage back in 2008. Just this year, the workers and advisors were found not guilty. You can read about it in an article on page 12 of this newsletter.

The movement was dealt another blow this past week when a sugar cane union leader was assassinated on April 27. Daniel Aguirre Piedrahita was gunned down in the city of Florida in Valle de Cauca. 

The sugar cane cutters in Yakari will continue to fight for a first union contract. The violence will continue, and my prediction is that it will begin to rise again. The Colombia Free Trade Agreement goes into effect on May 15, which is supposed to be better for all workers. How can killing workers be good for workers?

*Photos by Amy Price

A safe workplace. A voice at work. These are human rights that workers worldwide take for granted. Yet, this is exactly why workers at the GM plant in Bogota, Colombia have been fired.

The workers simply want to get well, have a meeting with GM to improve the labor standards in the plant, and most importantly, go back to work.

February 13, 2012

Since August 1, 2011 ASOTRECOL, the group of injured and fired workers from GM’s Chevrolet plant in Bogota, have had a tent set up across the street from the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. They’ve flown the U.S. Flag upside down as a sign of dire distress to get attention.

Attention they have received. U.S. Marines have come by and threatened them. When we brought it up at our Witness for Peace meeting with the U.S. Embassy, they told us that the group should turn the flag correct. We told Amanda Porter of the U.S. Embassy of the threats the group has received. It was the first time she had heard about it, and acted surprised. A few days later, ASOTRECOL decided to turn the flag to its original stance to avoid further stress. However, this does not mean they are giving up.

The workers in the GM plant in Bogota make Chevrolet vehicles. The plant’s labor standards are that of 50 years ago. Injuries from the courageous workers who have come forth include: vertebrae hernia, carpel tunnel, joints/tendinitis, injuries to shoulders and elbows, to name a few. When we asked them if this was a plan to shut down the GM Bogota plant, they told us no. In fact, GM wants to expand and upgrade the plant for even more production.

GM Colomotores/South America hired doctors which examined the injured workers and determined that the workplace injuries were not workplace injuries. The doctors recommended to the bosses that these workers be fired. So they were. And the corrupt labor inspectors signed off on the paperwork covering up the injuries.

According to the Labor Action Plan which was part of the Colombian Free Trade Agreement, over 400 labor inspectors were to be hired to ensure safe workplaces. To date, a little over 100 inspectors have been hired. In the case of GM, one of the said labor inspectors was found guilty of corruption and was sanctioned.

Still, when the injured workers apply for compensation, the company routinely stalls all efforts to secure the documentation and further corruption happens. It’s no surprise that more workers haven’t come forth to claim injuries. This is happening right under the nose of the U.S. Embassy. Colombian officials who should have be monitoring and enforcing the Labor Accords before the full implementation of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement have apparently failed. All of this this is being done when the U.S. still owns 26 percent of the GM common stock.

Jorge Parra, a fired worker and president of ASOTRECOL, will be in Chicago, Detroit, and Washington D.C. in early May 2012 to tell the story and gain support in their journey for justice. He will be attending the Labor Notes Conference in Chicago May 4-6. In Detroit he will meet with UAW. And in DC he will be part of a Colombian delegation of workers who will speak the truth to the working conditions in Colombia.

ASOTRECOL is gaining international spotlight. The Colombian news won’t follow it, except for local news. When a reporter tried to cover it for a larger Colombian magazine, the spot was bought out by GM execs. Therefore, it is necessary to shed light on the injustice that is happening.

As a U.S. Citizen, I am appalled by the actions of GM. We bailed them out, and still own stock. The rights of workers to have a safe environment to work in should be upheld—especially since we have a stake in the success of the company. The time is now to give the injured workers the resources to make their bodies whole, update the assembly lines, and by doing that, give justice to all of those who have poured their blood and veins into the Colombian economy. The money made by these workers will go back to their families which will be invested into their communities.

To the GM fat cats: GM CEO Dan Akerson, originally from Mankato, Minnesota: “You have nothing that the humblest worker has not a right to have also.” - Rose Schneiderman

Here’s how you can help for now. Stay tuned, as we are going to turn up the heat in May.

4 February, 2012

There is a hunger strike in Cali, Colombia the day I arrive. Members of SINTRAEMCALI are calling for the reinstatement of 51 illegally fired workers and all of the courts support this decision. The fat cat boss, however, will not cooperate.

Ida is one of the workers who was fired in 2004 because of attempted privatization efforts. She tells us of the SINTRAEMCALI struggle. Originally, the Cali government tried to fire 450 workers, but the union fought back and the government ended up firing 51. Despite the egregious cutbacks, the union gathered community support through engaging many groups, including the youth through high schools, LGBT community and by launching a PR campaign. Through engaging all of these groups, the government won’t touch the encampment set up in a plaza outside the courts and court tribunal buildings. However, Ida and Angel tell us that union members and leaders have received death threats through text messages. In fact, the death threats continue, and have even escalated and become more elaborate with the paramilitary group known as the Black Eagles sending the union a ‘funeral’ package complete with two bullets, two roses, and a prayer book.

At the point when I get there, there is one worker left on hunger strike. He is laying down on the bed with a mask on. Next to the bed an oscillating fan turns its breeze, left then right. The hunger strike began on December 5, 2011.

Half way through the trip, we hear that the hunger strikers have called it quits. Yet, the struggle continues for the EMCALI workers, as well as for all Colombian workers, especially now that the Colombian Free Trade Agreement has been given full implementation status from the POTUS come May 15.

The week was bookmarked by a meeting in Minnesota with a politically asylumed Colombian laying out the land for me before my trip, to Ida and Angel proving it to me on the streets and in the plaza in Cali. The internal corruption is basically worse with Santos as president versus Uribe, because it is now largely legitimized by the Free Trade Agreement. Garcon is another name that keeps popping up that the people are telling me about. More on the later. There are opposition Senators that are standing up and fighting back for the workers, the people, the 99%.

Amidst all of this corruption, the workers possess such strength it is inspiring. A line by the author Clarice Lispector reads, “Too much was being asked of my courage just because I was courageous, too much was being asked of my strength just because I was strong.” But then I think, what else is there? The answer is nothing. Therefore I am courageous and strong, for others and for myself. That is what I saw today, in the flesh, workers being courageous and strong because there are no other choices. We will not live on our knees. A hunger strike tests the body for all to see, yet the soul and will of the people can never be broken. 

Dear Secretary Solis,

As a U.S. citizen, woman, and union member who visited Colombia this past February, I am deeply concerned that the United States has approved full implementation of the Free Trade Agreement with Colombia. The murder of 30 unionists and 49 human rights defenders during 2011 in Colombia is unacceptable. Making matters worse, the vast majority of these murders have been committed with impunity, calling into serious doubt the attitude of Colombian authorities toward protecting the basic right to life of the people of that country.

I believe that the 1% will benefit from the free trade agreement, while a large number of working class Colombians – and North Americans –the 99%, will suffer the loss of their livelihoods, their homes, and perhaps their lives. Given that Colombia was on its best behavior before the FTA was passed in October, there have been 6 killings already this year. I am fearful for Colombians that the number will rise once the FTA goes into effect this May. From the Colombians I met and talked with while on my trip, it is clear that the Colombian government has not fully followed the Labor Action Plan that was agreed upon, that is at least a start to making it a safe environment for workers and organizing a union.

I admire you for your work to protect U.S. workers, as well as your concern for young people entering the workforce and the tough challenges we face. I implore you to do your utmost to safeguard the lives of working class Colombians – not only to stop the killings, but to seek justice in the Colombian workplaces. Now that the FTA is in accords, how can the U.S. Government work with Colombians to make sure that Colombian workers are safe?

Sincerely,

Jessica Hayssen

Witness for Peace 2012 Colombia delegation member

Minnesota AFL-CIO staff

Young Worker Advisory Council, AFL-CIO