Trade unions in Colombia

Last updated

Trade unions in Colombia were, until around 1990, among the strongest in Latin America. However the 1980s expansion of paramilitarism in Colombia saw trade union leaders and members increasingly targeted for assassination. As a result, Colombia has been the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists for several decades. Between 1986 and 2010 over 2800 labor leaders 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 guerrillas. In 2009 only around 4% of workers in Colombia were unionized.

Contents

Major Union Federations

NameEst.MembersWebsite
Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) 1986546,000 cut.org.co
Confederación General de Trabajo (CGT) 1971122,000 cgtcolombia.org
Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia (CTC) 193651,000 ctc-colombia.com.co
Unión de Trabajadores Colombianos (UTC) 1946 confederacionutc.org

History

1920-1946: Beginnings & Growth

Leaders of the banana strike of 1928, two of whom were killed in the massacre that followed Banana massacre photo.png
Leaders of the banana strike of 1928, two of whom were killed in the massacre that followed

The development of the Colombian economy in the early 20th century was not as favorable for labor as compared to other Latin American countries, particularly when it came to the key export of coffee, which over the course of the 20th century came to dominate Colombian exports. Coffee, as an industry, was dominated by small growers, whose labor tended to come from the family-unit as opposed to the wage-laborer. [1] While other industries which depend heavily on wage-labor did come to play a significant role in the development of the Colombian economy, these industries did not come to play as significant a role as in other Latin American countries.

This doesn't mean that Colombia's early labor history was without incident. In fact, militant union activity flourished under the employment conditions of foreign firms such as New Jersey Standard Oil and the United Fruit Company, where workers had to migrate to formerly sparsely populated areas of rain forest for employment, and upon arriving found their living conditions to be in stark contrast to those of their foreign employers. A pattern of strikes & suppression emerged in the 1920s within these industries, employees of the former going on strike in 1924 & 1927 only to be met by government intervention, a large strike of the latter in 1928 being infamously ended by the Banana Massacre, where an unknown number of workers (from a few dozen to 3000 [2] ) were killed after the government sent in military forces.

The working conditions of these Colombian laborers have some famous representation in literature, Jose Eustacio Rivera's La Voragine depicting both the plight of the rubber worker & the rich biodiversity of the Colombian countryside, Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude & Álvaro Cepeda Samudio’s La Casa Grande containing fictional versions of the banana massacre.

Colombia had been dominated since the turn of the century by the Conservative party, but the government's loss of prestige following its violent suppression of strikers helped bring them out of office by the end of the decade, ushering in a new decade and a half-long era of Liberal rule, which was characterized by a government more sympathetic to labor. The number of unionized workers doubled under this new Liberal administration. It is during this time period that the first major union confederation, the Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia (CTC), was established, the confederation not coincidentally having been aligned with the Liberal Party ever since. The Liberals also funded many of their public works projects via an increased tax on foreign firms such as New Jersey Standard Oil and United Fruit, punishment in part because of their recent mistreatment of their workers, and in part because of their close cooperation with the Conservative Party just a decade ago. [3] Liberal support of labor waned towards the end of their tenure as the party in power, as the foreign affairs of the 1940s overshadowed the domestic. In the end, the split between the centrist and more radical reformist wing of the party, as headed by Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, allowed for a Conservative win in 1946, the uneasy transfer of power coupled with Gaitán's assassination shortly thereafter beginning the era of Colombian history known as La Violencia.

Military dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, who attempted to appeal to Colombian workers to support his regime over conventional two party rule, in a style similar to Argentinian dictator Juan Peron. EBpoFvKXUAAomHa.jpg
Military dictator Gustavo Rojas Pinilla, who attempted to appeal to Colombian workers to support his regime over conventional two party rule, in a style similar to Argentinian dictator Juan Perón.

1946-1958: The Era of La Violencia & Rojas Pinilla

The centrist-radical divide within the Liberal party was mirrored in the CTC, where, in the increasingly hostile environment of the burgeoning cold war and new Conservative government, centrists in the CTC carried out a purge of its communist members. As the Liberal-led CTC was in this weakened state, the Unión de Trabajadores Colombianos (UTC) was founded by Jesuit elements of the Roman Catholic Church. The UTC was based on Catholic social doctrine, and while not having any direct ties with the Conservative party, was certainly favored by the party over the CTC. [4] A core sector of the newly founded UTC were the Catholic trade unions in the textile factories of Medellín, capital of the generally conservative department of Antioquia. [5] [6] [7]

Conservative rule would not last long, as general Gustavo Rojas Pinilla held a coup d'état in 1953 after then president Laureano Gómez tried to have him dismissed. The ramifications for Colombian trade unions would be significant. The military government supported the creation of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) trade union confederation. [8] CNT was built up along the lines of the Argentinian peronista unions, and CNT was affiliated to the Agrupación de Trabajadores Latinoamericanos Sindicalistas (ATLAS, which was led by the Peronista unions of Argentina). [9] CNT received financial aid from ATLAS. Moreover, CNT received direct support from the Colombian Ministry of Labour through the minister Aurelio Caicedo Ayerbe. [8] CNT was given access to issue propaganda through public radio stations. [10] CNT was actively involved in building the political movement constructed to support the rule of Rojas Pinilla, National Action Movement. [8] CNT and MAN were projected as the constituents of a 'Third Force' in Colombian politics, confronting the two old dominant parties of the country. [11] With a strong anti-oligarchical discourse, Rojas Pinilla sought to utilize CNT and MAN to mobilize popular opinion against the traditional elites and their political parties. [12] At the same time as the government mobilized support to CNT it curbed the activities of the two main party-affiliated trade union centers of the country, the CTC and UTC. [13] The launching of CNT provoked reactions from the opposition side, and a civic opposition front was formed. [14] By the end of 1955 the pressure from the Roman Catholic Church, the Conservatives and UTC forced the government to close down the CNT. [10] The fall of the Rojas Pinilla regime followed soon after.

1958-present

The fall of Rojas Pinilla paved the way for almost two decades of bipartisan control of Colombia, called the National Front. Trade unions flourished during this period, as the number of unionized workers more than doubled, and new union confederations were founded, such as the Confederación Sindical de Trabajadores de Colombia (CSTC) in 1964, which had communist leanings. Other union confederations were founded later during the National Front, or shortly after its collapse, such as the Confederación General de Trabajadores (CGT) in 1971, and the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) in 1986. "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." [15] Since then, the targeting of unionists by paramilitaries has led to thousands of deaths. Former paramilitary leader Carlos Castaño said that "We kill trade unionists because they interfere with people working." [16]

Paramilitary Involvement

Until around 1990 Colombian trade unions were among the strongest in Latin America. [15] However the 1980s expansion of paramilitarism in Colombia 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. [17] [18] [19] Between 2000 and 2010 Colombia accounted for 63.12% of trade unionists murdered globally. [20] According to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) there were 2832 murders of trade unionists between 1 January 1986 and 30 April 2010, [20] 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." [21] Other sources give figures of around 4000 trade union members killed from the mid-1980s to 2008. [22]

According to a 2007 Amnesty International 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." [23] The Colombian parapolitics scandal revealed widespread links between the government and the paramilitaries, in which then President Alvaro Uribe and his congressional allies were heavily implicated. The government during Uribe's tenure opposed labor both directly & indirectly, the Ministry of Social Protection in 2004 actively labeling many strikes as illegal & suppressing the formation of new unions, while the government turned a blind eye to many instances of paramilitary anti-union violence, around 3,500 unionists having been murdered within a 15-year period (1990-2005), the government only having investigated 600 of theses killings, leading to only 6 convictions. At times the government even engaged in such violence itself, the Colombian Army having killed 3 union leaders in Arauca in 2004. [24] 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." [21] From 1986 to 2009, Antioquia Department saw the highest number of murders (46% of the total), [25] while the agricultural workers' union Sintrainagro was the most targeted union (at 844, 31% of the total). [26]

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 (AUC) ( Doe v. Chiquita Brands International ), "Trade unionists have been particularly targeted by the paramilitaries, and most of the violence has been directed at leaders of unions of multinational corporations." [27] In 2001 the United Steelworkers of America and the International Labor Rights Fund sued Coca-Cola and its Colombian suppliers in a Miami court on behalf of food workers union Sinaltrainal ( Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola ); the case was dismissed in 2006. A similar suit regarding another US company, Estate of Rodriquez v. Drummond Co. , was dismissed in 2007.

According to the ITUC, only 1.2% of workers in Colombia are covered by a collective agreement. [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Confederation of Free Trade Unions</span> International trade union federation

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) was an international trade union. It came into being on 7 December 1949 following a split within the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), and was dissolved on 31 October 2006 when it merged with the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) to form the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

CNT may refer to:

The Unión General de Trabajadores is a major Spanish trade union, historically affiliated with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE).

Fidel Velázquez Sánchez was the preeminent Mexican union leader of the 20th century. In 1936 he was one of the original founders, along with Vicente Lombardo Toledano, of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM), the national labor federation most closely associated with the ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). He replaced Lombardo as the leader of the CTM in 1941, then expelled him from it in 1948. He led the CTM, which grew increasingly corrupt and conservative, until his death in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederation of Mexican Workers</span> Labor union association

The Confederation of Mexican Workers is the largest confederation of labor unions in Mexico. For many years, it was one of the essential pillars of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, which ruled Mexico for more than seventy years. However, the CTM began to lose influence within the PRI structure in the late 1980s, as technocrats increasingly held power within the party. Eventually, the union found itself forced to deal with a new party in power after the PRI lost the 2000 general election, an event that drastically reduced the CTM's influence in Mexican politics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Confederation of Labour (Argentina)</span> Trade union

The General Confederation of Labor is a national trade union federation in Argentina founded on 27 September 1930, as the result of the merger of the U.S.A and the C.O.A trade unions. Nearly one out of five employed – and two out of three unionized workers in Argentina – belong to the CGT, one of the largest labor federations in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gustavo Rojas Pinilla</span> 19th President of Colombia (1953–1957)

Gustavo Rojas Pinilla was a Colombian army general, civil engineer and politician who ruled as 19th President of Colombia in a military dictatorship from June 1953 to May 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ángel Pestaña</span> Spanish anarcho-syndicalist (1886–1937)

Ángel Pestaña Nuñez (1886–1937) was a Spanish anarcho-syndicalist general secretary of the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT), founder of the Syndicalist Party and member of the Cortes Generales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederation of Workers of Colombia</span> Trade union centre in 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Workers' Central Union of Cuba</span> Trade union federation of Cuba

The Workers Central Union of Cuba is the trade union federation in Cuba. It originated as the Confederación de Trabajadores de Cuba in 1939 and changed its name to the Central Union of Cuban Workers in 1961.

The Confederation des Travailleurs Haïtiens (CTH) was founded in 1998 to provide a space for Haitian workers to organize collectively and promote a progressive agenda, such as opposing the privatization plans of international financial institutions. Trade unionists of the CTH are based in numerous professions, such as education, artisan work, informal sector, port authority, transportation, and as pastors working in rural areas with church coalitions. They have two offices in Port-au-Prince and one office in each of Haiti's ten departments.

Colombia is a sovereign state situated in South America. It has been a member of the United Nations since 5 November 1945, and is party to a variety of international agreements concerning human rights. It also has a series of domestic laws concerning the protection of human rights. However, Colombia's human rights record often contradicts directly with the laws and agreements to which it is bound; Colombia was referred to as the country with the "worst human rights record in the western hemisphere," by HRW in 2007. The same was said of Guatemala in 1998, as well as Cuba in 2012 and Venezuela today. In the UK Foreign Office annual human rights report for 2010, Colombia features as one of 20 "Countries of Concern".

National Front was a period in the history of Colombia in which the two main political parties, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, agreed to rotate power, intercalating for a period of four presidential terms. The National Front Presidents were Alberto Lleras Camargo (Liberal), Guillermo León Valencia (Conservative), Carlos Lleras Restrepo (Liberal), and Misael Pastrana Borrero (Conservative).

Agrupación de Trabajadores Latinoamericanos Sindicalistas or ATLAS was a Latin American trade union confederation in the early 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ICFTU Inter American Regional Organisation of Workers</span>

The ICFTU Inter American Regional Organisation of Workers was the regional organization of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) for the Americas.

Unión de Trabajadores de Colombia is a trade union confederation in 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 was built up along the lines of the Argentinian peronista unions, and CNT was affiliated to the Agrupación de Trabajadores Latinoamericanos Sindicalistas. CNT received financial aid from ATLAS. Moreover, CNT received direct support from the Colombian Ministry of Labour through the minister Aurelio Caicedo Ayerbe. CNT was given access to issue propaganda through public radio stations.

Disunited and poorly organized for most of its history, trade unions in Ecuador developed only slowly and had only a marginal political impact. Precise figures on unionization in the late 1980s were practically nonexistent, even within the unions themselves. The organized labor movement in Ecuador was divided into four confederations and a number of independent federations. At the local level, labor organizations also took the form of artisan guilds, cooperatives, and neighborhood associations. In addition to representing only a minority of the workers in all sectors of employment, the labor movement traditionally was weakened by rivalry and government repression. Nevertheless, it had influence disproportionate to its numbers as a result of the concentration of trade unions in urban areas, mainly Quito and Guayaquil, its organizational power, and the political impact of strikes and demonstrations on governments that did not enjoy strong support.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-union violence</span> Physical force intended to harm union members

Anti-union violence is physical force intended to harm union officials, union organizers, union members, union sympathizers, or their families. It is most commonly used either during union organizing efforts, or during strikes. The aim most often is to prevent a union from forming, to destroy an existing union, or to reduce the effectiveness of a union or a particular strike action. If strikers prevent people or goods to enter or leave a workplace, violence may be used to allow people and goods to pass the picket line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evelio Boal</span> Spanish anarchist (1884–1921)

Evelio Boal López was a Spanish graphic designer, trade unionist and anarchist. He was one of the organizers of the Congress of Sants of the National Confederation of Labor, forming part of the commission that wrote the report.

References

  1. ↑ Bushnell, David (1993). The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. pp. 172–174. ISBN   0-520-08289-3.
  2. ↑ 27 June 2007, Congressional Testimony on Violence against Trade Unionists and Human Rights in Colombia Hrw.org
  3. ↑ Bushnell, David (1993). The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. pp. 188–189. ISBN   0-520-08289-3.
  4. ↑ Bushnell, David (1993). The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. pp. 210–211. ISBN   0-520-08289-3.
  5. ↑ Cambridge History of Latin America 8. Latin America Since 1930 . Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996. p. 609
  6. ↑ "Colombia - The Labor Movement". Countrystudies.us. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  7. ↑ "Colombia - The Church in Society". Countrystudies.us. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
  8. 1 2 3 Ladino Orjuelo, Wilson Hernando. Régimen Político Colombiano 2 [ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ Henderson, James D. La modernización en Colombia: los años de Laureano Gómez, 1889-1965 . Medellin, Colombia: Universidad de Antioquia, 2006. p. 495
  10. 1 2 Benavides L, Eduardo. ADIDA, 50 años de lucha [ permanent dead link ]
  11. ↑ Alba, Víctor. Politics and the Labor Movement in Latin America . Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1968. p. 272
  12. ↑ Osterling, Jorge P. Democracy in Colombia: Clientelist Politics and Guerrilla Warfare . New Brunswick, U.S.A.: Transaction, 1989. p. 94
  13. ↑ Cambridge History of Latin America 8. Latin America Since 1930 . Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996. p. 625
  14. ↑ Palacios Rozo, Marco, and Frank Robinson Safford. Colombia, país fragmentado, sociedad dividida: su historia . Colección Vitral. Bogotá [u.a.]: Grupo Ed. Norma, 2002. p. 594
  15. 1 2 American Center for International Labor Solidarity (2006), Justice For All: The Struggle for Worker Rights in Colombia Archived 2010-07-17 at the Wayback Machine , p11
  16. ↑ American Center for International Labor Solidarity (2006), Justice For All: The Struggle for Worker Rights in Colombia Archived 2010-07-17 at the Wayback Machine , p12
  17. ↑ An ILO mission in 2000 reported that "the number of assassinations, abductions, death threats and other violent assaults on trade union leaders and unionized workers in Colombia is without historical precedent". According to the Colombian Government, during the period 1991-99 there were 593 assassinations of trade union leaders and unionized workers while the National Trade Union School holds that 1 336 union members were assassinated." - ILO, 16 June 2000, Special ILO Representative for cooperation with Colombia to be appointed by Director-General Ilo.org
  18. ↑ "By the 1990s, Colombia had become the most dangerous country in the world for unionists" - Chomsky, Aviva (2008), Linked labor histories: New England, Colombia, and the making of a global working class, Duke University Press, p11
  19. ↑ "Colombia has the world’s worst record on these assassinations..." - 20 November 2008, Colombia: Not Time for a Trade Deal Hrw.org
  20. 1 2 International Trade Union Confederation, 11 June 2010, ITUC responds to the press release issued by the Colombian Interior Ministry concerning its survey Ituc-csi.org
  21. 1 2 International Trade Union Confederation (2010), Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights: Colombia Survey.ituc-csi.org
  22. ↑ Kuehnert, Daniel Richard (2008), "The International Labor Organization and a Possible End to Violence against Union Members in Colombia", Washington University Global Studies Law Review, Vol. 7, Issue 3, pp. 593-618. p593
  23. ↑ Latin American Herald Tribune , 23 October 2009, Two Colombian Agents Arrested in Slaying of Unionist Laht.com
  24. ↑ Moloney, Anastasia (2005). "Terror as Anti-Union Strategy: the violent suppression of labor rights in Colombia". Multinational Monitor . 26 (3/4): 40–43.
  25. ↑ Escuela Nacional Sindical (2008), Death Isn’t Mute: Report on violations to life, freedom and integrity of trade unionists in Colombia during 2008 and situation of impunity of violations in the period 1986-2009, Cuaderno de Derechos Humanos Nº 21, p. 22
  26. ↑ Escuela Nacional Sindical (2008:24)
  27. ↑ Martin-Ortega, Olga (2008), "Deadly Ventures? Multinational Corporations and Paramilitaries in Colombia", Revista electrónica de estudios internacionales
  28. ↑ International Trade Union Confederation (2009), Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights: Colombia Survey09.ituc-csi.org

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.