Colombia labor leaders want “freedom to organize without fear of being assisinated”

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Talk Radio News Service

Colombia labor leaders want “freedom to organize without fear of being assisinated”
May 13th, 2008 by Staff ·

The International Workers Rights Caucus presented a briefing on “Columbian Labor Leaders Speak Out” featuring Colombian labor leaders. Congressman Phil Hare (D-Ill.) said Colombia is the “most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists” and that most Colombian labor unions oppose the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

Alfonso Velazquez Rico, national executive committee member of the Unitary Workers Center and the rubber and leather workers union, said that the Colombian government is trying to persuade the U.S. Congress that the labor situation is better in Colombia, but he said it has gotten worse. He said so far this year 25 unionists have been murdered, and that the government is linked with paramilitary groups.

Evan Torro Lopez, executive committee member of the National Association of Bank Workers, said more than 95% of Columbian labor unions oppose the FTA. He said the arguments for opposing the trade agreement go beyond the issue of physical safety because it also profoundly affects economic and sociological life in Colombia. He said all results from opening up the country’s free market have been negative, that the statistics the government provided for economic development are misleading, and that while the banks and trade sectors benefited, other sectors were negatively affected. He said the trade deficit in Columbia is $20 billion.

Lopez also said U.S. companies are protected by the government to keep unions from being formed. He said jobs are being outsourced and that workers in the U.S. will suffer too. Percy Oyola Paloma, president of the national union of telecommunications workers, said that many workers are afraid to start or affiliate with trade unions, and that the government ministries create difficulties in creating trade unions and collective bargaining power.



Read more: http://talkradionews.com/2008/05/colombia-labor-leaders-want-freedom-to-organize-without-fear-of-being-assisinated/

[thunder rising]

1. When we (US) quit killing in South America we will lose our cheap labor here at home!

[dipsydoodle]

2. It's The Real Thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEl0WozN1Vg&feature=related

[Omaha Steve]

3. R #5

Here people are afraid to organize because they might get fired. Wasn't there a book about A Nation of Sheep 30-4- years ago?

[tom_paine]

4. Are you kidding? The Bushies will soon be running their own Right-Wing Death Squads HERE

if they haven't already started with feasability testing and organization a couple years ago, when a rapid-fire spate of 2nd-tier Democratic activists, investiagtors, and leaders were mysteriously killed.

2nd tier, of course, because their deaths wouldn't garner media attention, even IF we had something more than Toady Press we have currenlt in this Empire.

You would have to research it to find the links, mine are buried. One guy, I remember was shot and killed during a "robbery" in DC in which the culprits mysterious took nothing.

Another, I remember, left home and told his family he was going to meet with a Bushie who was going to give him some inside info. If I recall correctly, he also told his family not to believe it if he died or "committed suicide.

The "meeting" was on the top floor of a building under construction. The 2nd tier Democrat (not famous enough to warrant more than a quick mention in newspapersd, and nothing on TV) wound up splattered after he supposedly "jumped".

There are more. I feel for the Colmbians facing off against their murderous Bushies. Far from quitting their murderous Bushie ways, I strongly suspect they will eventually be imported here.

[Joanne98]

5. K&R

[Zorro]

6. Assisinated?

They're afraid of being turned into sissies?

[Bacchus39]

7. the right to bare typos shall not be infringed

in "Columbia".

[judasdisney]

8. Zorro & Bacchus always turn up in posts about Colombia, but never against Uribe's Death Squads

[Flanker]

9. Not only that but he calls people in front of the firing squad cowards

I believe they are both related to Colombia, and they both support Uribe like ALL rightwing Colombians.

[happydreams]

10. I'm going to cut Zorro some slack...

Sgt. Garcia has been coming down on him hard lately.

www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Calvin