Labor & Employment Law

Assassinations of Unionists in Colombia Unabated

By admin

Jeff Vogt, an AFL-CIO global economic policy specialist, reminds us that Colombian trade unionists continue to pay with their lives in their struggles for justice on the job.

The Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Colombia( CUT) has reported the assassination of Francisco Antonio Abello Rebollo. This crime was committed in Empresa Inversiones Palo Alto Gnecco Espinosa, an African Palm plantation in the municipality of San Juan de Palo Prieto, Magdalena Department.

Assassins killed Mr. Abello on May 17. Abello, together with his co-workers, went on strike in December 2009 because the employer had refused to recognize or negotiate with the union.  Subsequently, the company fired all 185 of the workers.  The workers had decided to form the union in response to the company’s failure to pay wages and legally required social security health care benefits. When the workers presented their bargaining demands, they were forced off of the plantation by one of the managers accompanied by a mob of about 10 armed men. The mob fired on the workers, wounding one.

The conflict lasted 67 days before the company signed a collective agreement with the striking workers, with the intervention of the government; however, threats against the workers continued after the agreement was negotiated. These threats became reality with Abello’s murder. His death is in addition to the 25 trade unionist murders recorded between January and April 30, 2010.

The AFL-CIO denounces the ongoing violence and calls upon the government of Colombia to protect the lives and rights of workers and to immediately conduct a thorough investigation of this murder, bringing to justice all those who may be responsible for this horrendous crime. We also reiterate our firm opposition to the proposed U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement so long as violence against trade unionists continues, impunity persists and labor law falls short of international labor standards.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on May 28, 2010 (boomark / email).