Notes from presentation by Fabio Arias Giraldo
Notes from presentation by

Fabio Arias Giraldo

at IUE-CWA Local 201 Lynn, Massachusetts

Wednesday, July 21, 2004



The talk was given in Spanish with translations by Lyn Meza and Avi Chomsky.



Transcribed by Rebecca Ramsay.



Introduction: Fabio is Vice President of the CUT, the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores or Unified Workers Central, Colombia's main labor federation (comparable to the AFL-CIO) and Coordinator of the Gran Coalicion Democratica (Grand Democratic Coalition).



Fabio started off by saying the situation for trade unionists in Colombia is still very bad.

The number of trade union leaders killed is the highest of any country.



Union situation in general:

Most people not working under a union contract. Collective bargaining is the exception. Work often goes to non-union cooperative job shops.

70% of workers have "flexible" contracts.

30% have a contract (many temporary employees).

5% of employed in trade unions.

70% of these are in public sector, e.g., education and health care.

Violations of labor rights are pervasive. Complaints to ILO go nowhere.

Protests against attempts at privatization: 248 USO (Union Sindical Obrera) workers at Ecopetrol and 47 public employees in Cali were fired..

The assaults on trade union leaders has seriously hurt the trade union movement.



To counteract Uribe's neo-liberal political policies, a new organization is developing that will channel social discontent: Gran Coalicion Democratica. This coalition was instrumental in the October 25 defeat of Uribe's attempt to limit wages and pensions as a part of an IMF mandate. Only 23% of Colombians voted to support the referendum. (Uribe needed 25%.) Yet soon after, local elections brought out 52% of the voters. Shows that the population is not with Uribe.



Thursday July 22 is the start of a political and social summit. This will include disenfranchised Liberal Party members and new democratic forces in evidence during October referendum.

They will be responding to Uribe's speech given on Colombian Independence Day (7/20), when he announced new policies. He will be trying to push through congress the pension and wage restrictions that were defeated in the referendum. This is an illegal procedure, as there is supposed to be a two-year waiting period after a referendum. He announced tax reforms such as a 4% tax on staple food purchases, an extremely regressive tax that hurts the subsistence population the most. Uribe's disregard for constitutional procedures demonstrates his authoritarian approach.



The social and political summit will be responding with alternative policy proposals opposing Uribe's neo-liberal and authoritarian administration, in the hope that they can prevent him from being re-elected. Uribe goes along with whatever the U.S. wants, e.g., support for war in Iraq. The biggest problem in Colombia is pervasive U.S. interference. Uribe complies with directives from the U.S. southern command and the ambassador. Their control of the country is at the expense of Colombian sovereignty. The U.S. even dictates terms of the peace negotiations. The U.S. used to say they needed to intervene because of drug trafficking; now they say it's because of terrorism.



The FTAA pushed by the U.S. only benefits multinational corporations, while weakening the Colombian economic structure, causing more poverty, similar to the re-colonization of the 1990s. In 1990, the poverty rate was 50%; now it is 66% due to neo-liberal policies. Rather than emphasizing exports, the country needs to emphasize redistribution of wealth to create local markets, which will in turn stimulate production, but production for the benefit of the population.



Some responses to questions



Major exports are oil, coal, coffee and bananas. The $3.2 billion sent home by Colombians living abroad is actually the biggest source of revenue (including oil).



About Coca-Cola bottlers: There has been substantial international support from U.S. and European labor organizations. Organizers at Salem State College met extensively with the administration regarding unfair labor practices of Coca-Cola in Colombia. This resulted in the College's vote to not sign a new ten-year contract with the company.



September 15 - 18, one hundred trade union leaders from around the world will be gathering to support an SOS for trade union freedom in Colombia. Fabio hopes that, in addition to AFL-CIO national representatives, there will be some local reps from other U.S. unions. At a demonstration in Cartagena, two delegates from the U.S. AFL-CIO Solidarity Center, Elizabeth Drake and Rhett Doumitt, were among the protestors assaulted by gas dispersed from a helicopter. Fabio said this was the first instance in Colombia of gas being dispersed in this way to disrupt a political protest.



This is his first visit to the U.S., and although he has only been here for three days, he is favorably impressed with the North American people. Knowing that many of us do not support our current administration's policies offers hope for both countries.



The Gran Coalicion Democratica is composed of 250 political, economic and social organizations. The four key points of their platform are:



1. Preventing Uribe from getting re-elected.



2. Opposing FTAA.



3. Blocking Uribe's legislative agenda, e.g. wage freeze and other neo-liberal reforms.



4. Demanding a negotiated settlement to armed struggle.



In general, they want to reaffirm a commitment to peace, that is, peace with sovereignty (no U.S. intervention). They hope to have a GDC presidential candidate who can defeat Uribe. There is speculation that Uribe may try to form a new party. The Liberal Party has been divided, but their broad-based support is progressive, i.e. not for Uribe.