Trade unions in Colombia
Encyclopedia
see also Human rights in Colombia
Human rights in Colombia
According to the U.S. Department of State 2003 human rights report for Colombia, Colombia’s human rights record, despite significant improvements by police and military forces in some areas, remained poor.-Security forces:...



Trade unions in Colombia were until around 1990 among the strongest in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages  – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...

. However the 1980s expansion of paramilitarism in Colombia
Paramilitarism in Colombia
Paramilitarism in Colombia refers to the origins and activities of far right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia during the 20th century.Right-wing paramilitary groups are the parties considered to be most responsible for human rights violations in Colombia during the later half of the current...

 saw trade union leaders and members increasingly targeted for assassination, and as a result Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 has been the most dangerous country in the world for trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

ists for several decades. Between 1986 and 2010 over 2800 were killed according to one source, and over 4000 according to others. Most assassinations were carried out by paramilitaries or the Colombian military; some were carried out by the guerillas. In 2009 only around 4% of workers in Colombia were unionised.

Overview

Until around 1990 Colombian trade unions were among the strongest in Latin America. However the 1980s expansion of paramilitarism in Colombia
Paramilitarism in Colombia
Paramilitarism in Colombia refers to the origins and activities of far right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia during the 20th century.Right-wing paramilitary groups are the parties considered to be most responsible for human rights violations in Colombia during the later half of the current...

 saw trade union leaders and members increasingly targeted for assassination, and as a result Colombia has been the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists for several decades. Between 2000 and 2010 Colombia accounted for 63.12% of trade unionists murdered globally. According to the International Trade Union Confederation
International Trade Union Confederation
The International Trade Union Confederation is the world's largest trade union federation. It was formed on November 1, 2006 out of the merger of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the World Confederation of Labour...

 (ITUC) there were 2832 murders of trade unionists between 1 January 1986 and 30 April 2010, meaning that "on average, men and women trade unionists in Colombia have been killed at the rate of one every three days over the last 23 years." Other sources give figures of around 4000 trade union members killed from the mid-1980s to 2008.

According to a 2007 Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...

 report, in 2005 "around 49 percent of human rights abuses against trade unionists were committed by paramilitaries and some 43 percent directly by the security forces." The Colombian parapolitics scandal
Colombian parapolitics scandal
The Colombian parapolitics scandal or "parapolítica" in Spanish refers to the 2006–present Colombian congressional scandal in which several congressmen and other politicians have been indicted for suspicions of colluding with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia , a paramilitary group which...

 revealed widespread links between the government and the paramilitaries. The ITUC in 2010 concluded that "the historical and structural violence against the Colombian trade union movement remains firmly in place, manifesting itself in the form of systematic human and trade union rights violations." From 1986 to 2009, Antioquia Department
Antioquia Department
Antioquia is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the central northwestern part of Colombia with a narrow section that borders the Caribbean Sea. Most of its territory is mountainous with some valleys, much of which is part of the Andes mountain range...

 saw the highest number of murders (46% of the total), while the agricultural workers' union Sintrainagro was the most targeted union (at 844, 31% of the total).

There are reports that US corporations in Colombia have actively colluded with paramilitaries in order to reduce union activity. Besides acknowledged payments from multinationals to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia
The United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia was created as an umbrella organization of regional far-right...

 (AUC) (Doe v. Chiquita Brands International
Doe v. Chiquita Brands International
Doe v. Chiquita Brands International is a class-action lawsuit brought in the United States District Court of New Jersey, filed on June 13, 2007...

), "Trade unionists have been particularly targeted by the paramilitaries, and most of the violence has been directed at leaders of unions of multinational corporations." In 2001 the United Steelworkers of America and the International Labor Rights Fund
International Labor Rights Fund
The International Labor Rights Forum is a nonprofit advocacy organization headquartered in Washington, DC that describes itself as "an advocate for and with the working poor around the world". ILRF, formerly the International Labor Rights Education & Research Fund, was founded in 1986...

 sued Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...

 and its Colombian suppliers in a Miami court on behalf of food workers union Sinaltrainal
SINALTRAINAL
The National Union of Food Industry Workers is a Colombian food industry trade union.The group has repeatedly tried to form unions in Colombia for workers of Panamco, a Colombian Coca-Cola bottling company, and have documentation of many members or leaders being murdered, kidnapped, and tortured...

 (Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola
Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola
Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola is a lawsuit filed in 2001 by the Colombian trade union Sinaltrainal in a Miami district court. Sinaltrainal alleges that Panamco, a Colombian Coca-Cola bottling company, assisted paramilitaries in murdering several union members...

); the case was dismissed in 2006. A similar suit regarding another US company, Estate of Rodriquez v. Drummond Co.
Estate of Rodriquez v. Drummond Co.
Estate of Rodriquez v. Drummond Co. was a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama by relatives of dead relatives that were employees of Drummond Company....

, was dismissed in 2007.

According to the ITUC, only 1.2% of workers in Colombia are covered by a collective agreement, and only 4% of the workforce is unionized.

The three main trade union federations in Colombia, all ITUC-affiliated, are the Central Union of Workers
Central Union of Workers
The Central Union of Workers is a trade union centre in Colombia. It was formed in 1986, and in 2002 was the country's largest union federation, with 546,000 members.ICTUR reports that nearly 800 members of CUT were murdered between 1987 and 1992....

, General Confederation of Democratic Workers
General Confederation of Democratic Workers
The General Confederation of Democratic Workers is a trade union centre in Colombia. It was founded in 1988.The CGTD is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation....

 and the Confederation of Workers of Colombia
Confederation of Workers of Colombia
The Confederation of Workers of Colombia is a trade union centre in Colombia. It was formed in 1936, and is affiliated to the International Trade Union Confederation....

.

History

In December 1928 an unknown number of workers (from a few dozen to 3000) died after the government decided to send military forces to end a month-long strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...

 organized by the workers' union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 in order to secure better working conditions. Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...

 depicted a fictional version of what became known as the "banana massacre" in his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude
One Hundred Years of Solitude , by Gabriel García Márquez, is a novel which tells the multi-generational story of the Buendía family, whose patriarch, José Arcadio Buendía, founds the town of Macondo, the metaphoric Colombia...

, as did Álvaro Cepeda Samudio
Álvaro Cepeda Samudio
Álvaro Cepeda Samudio was a Colombian journalist, novelist, short story writer, and filmmaker. Within Colombia and the rest of Latin America, he is known in his own right as an important and innovative writer and journalist, largely inspiring much of the artistically-, intellectually- and...

 in his La Casa Grande.

1930-1960

The Confederation of Workers of Colombia
Confederation of Workers of Colombia
The Confederation of Workers of Colombia is a trade union centre in Colombia. It was formed in 1936, and is affiliated to the International Trade Union Confederation....

 (CTC) trade union federation was formed in the 1930s. The Unión de Trabajadores Colombianos
Unión de Trabajadores Colombianos
Unión de Trabajadores Colombianos was a central trade union confederation in Colombia.UTC was founded by the Jesuit elements of the Roman Catholic Church in June 1946, as the Liberal-led Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia was in a weakened state. UTC was based on Catholic social doctrine...

 (UTC) was founded by the Jesuit elements of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 in June 1946, as the Liberal-led CTC was in a weakened state. UTC was based on Catholic social doctrine. A core sector of the newly founded UTC were the Catholic trade unions in the textile factories of Medellín
Medellín
Medellín , officially the Municipio de Medellín or Municipality of Medellín, is the second largest city in Colombia. It is in the Aburrá Valley, one of the more northerly of the Andes in South America. It has a population of 2.3 million...

.

In 1953 the military government of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla
Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was a Colombian politician, military officer, General of the Army and President of Colombia between 1953 and 1957.- Biographic data :...

 supported the creation of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (Colombia)
Confederación Nacional del Trabajo was a central trade union confederation in Colombia. CNT was formed in 1953, with support from the military government of General Gustavo Rojas Pinilla...

 (CNT) trade union confederation. CNT was built up along the lines of the Argentinian
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 peronista unions, and CNT was affiliated to the Agrupación de Trabajadores Latinoamericanos Sindicalistas
Agrupación de Trabajadores Latinoamericanos Sindicalistas
Agrupación de Trabajadores Latinoamericanos Sindicalistas was a Latin American trade union confederation, founded in Mexico, in 1952. The organization was formed by the Argentinian CGT, Mexican CROM and other trade unions. ATLAS intended to organize a 'third way' in the Latin American labour...

(ATLAS, which was led by the Peronista unions of Argentina). CNT received financial aid from ATLAS. Moreover, CNT received direct support from the Colombian Ministry of Labour through the minister Aurelio Caicedo Ayerbe
Aurelio Caicedo Ayerbe
Aurelio Caicedo Ayerbe was a Colombian lawyer and diplomat. He served as the 14th Permanent Representative of Colombia to the United Nations and as Ambassador of Colombia to the Holy See.-Personal life:...

. CNT was given access to issue propaganda through public radio stations. CNT was actively involved in building the political movement constructed to support the rule of Rojas Pinilla, National Action Movement. CNT and MAN were projected as the constituents of a 'Third Force' in Colombian politics, confronting the two old dominant parties of the country. With a strong anti-oligarchical
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...

 discourse, Rojas Pinilla sought to utilize CNT and MAN to mobilize popular opinion against the traditional elites and their political parties. At the same time as the government mobilized support to CNT it curbed the activities of the two main trade union centres of the country, the Liberal Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia and Conservative
Colombian Conservative Party
The Colombian Conservative Party , is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was unofficially founded by a group of Revolutionary Commoners during the Revolutionary War for Independence from the Spanish Monarchy and later formally established during the Greater Colombia...

 Unión de Trabajadores Colombianos
Unión de Trabajadores Colombianos
Unión de Trabajadores Colombianos was a central trade union confederation in Colombia.UTC was founded by the Jesuit elements of the Roman Catholic Church in June 1946, as the Liberal-led Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia was in a weakened state. UTC was based on Catholic social doctrine...

. The launching of CNT provoked reactions from the opposition side, and a civic opposition front was formed. By the end of 1955 the pressure from the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, the Conservatives and UTC forced the government to close down the CNT.

1960-present

The Central Union of Workers
Central Union of Workers
The Central Union of Workers is a trade union centre in Colombia. It was formed in 1986, and in 2002 was the country's largest union federation, with 546,000 members.ICTUR reports that nearly 800 members of CUT were murdered between 1987 and 1992....

 (CUT) was founded in 1986, and the General Confederation of Democratic Workers
General Confederation of Democratic Workers
The General Confederation of Democratic Workers is a trade union centre in Colombia. It was founded in 1988.The CGTD is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation....

 in 1988. "Until the period beginning in 1990, Colombian workers
were among the most organized in Latin America, and Colombian trade unions were among the strongest, having won significant economic benefits for workers." Since then, the targeting of unionists by paramilitaries has led to thousands of deaths. Former paramilitary leader Carlos Castaño
Carlos Castaño
Carlos Castaño Gil was the founder of the Peasant Self-Defense Forces of Córdoba and Urabá , an extreme right paramilitary organization in Colombia...

 said that "We kill trade unionists because they interfere with people working."

External links

  • John F. Henning Center for International Labor Relations, University of California, Berkeley
    University of California, Berkeley
    The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

    , Labor Rights in Colombia
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