Trade unions in Colombia
Trade unions in Colombia were, until around 1990, among the strongest in
Major Union Federations
Name | Est. | Members | Website |
---|---|---|---|
Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) | 1986 | 546,000 | cut.org.co |
Confederación General de Trabajo (CGT) | 1971 | 122,000 | cgtcolombia.org |
Confederación de Trabajadores de Colombia (CTC) | 1936 | 51,000 | ctc-colombia.com.co |
Unión de Trabajadores Colombianos (UTC) | 1946 | confederacionutc.org |
History
1920-1946: Beginnings & Growth
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
The working conditions of these Colombian laborers have some famous representation in literature, Jose Eustacio Rivera's
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.
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
Conservative rule would not last long, as general
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.
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
According to the ITUC, only 1.2% of workers in Colombia are covered by a collective agreement.[28]
See also
- School of the Americas
- Anti-union violence in the United States
- Anti-union violence
- Union busting
References
- ISBN 0-520-08289-3.
- ^ 27 June 2007, Congressional Testimony on Violence against Trade Unionists and Human Rights in Colombia Hrw.org
- ISBN 0-520-08289-3.
- ISBN 0-520-08289-3.
- ^ Cambridge History of Latin America 8. Latin America Since 1930. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996. p. 609
- ^ "Colombia - The Labor Movement". Countrystudies.us. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ "Colombia - The Church in Society". Countrystudies.us. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ a b c Ladino Orjuelo, Wilson Hernando. Régimen Político Colombiano 2[permanent dead link]
- ^ Henderson, James D. La modernización en Colombia: los años de Laureano Gómez, 1889-1965. Medellin, Colombia: Universidad de Antioquia, 2006. p. 495
- ^ a b Benavides L, Eduardo. ADIDA, 50 años de lucha[permanent dead link]
- ^ Alba, Víctor. Politics and the Labor Movement in Latin America. Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press, 1968. p. 272
- ^ Osterling, Jorge P. Democracy in Colombia: Clientelist Politics and Guerrilla Warfare. New Brunswick, U.S.A.: Transaction, 1989. p. 94
- ^ Cambridge History of Latin America 8. Latin America Since 1930. Cambridge [u.a.]: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996. p. 625
- ^ 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
- ^ a b 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
- ^ 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
- Ilo.org
- ^ "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
- ^ "Colombia has the world’s worst record on these assassinations..." - 20 November 2008, Colombia: Not Time for a Trade Deal Hrw.org
- ^ a b 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
- ^ a b International Trade Union Confederation (2010), Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights: Colombia Survey.ituc-csi.org
- ^ 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
- ^ Latin American Herald Tribune, 23 October 2009, Two Colombian Agents Arrested in Slaying of Unionist Laht.com
- ^ Moloney, Anastasia (2005). "Terror as Anti-Union Strategy: the violent suppression of labor rights in Colombia". Multinational Monitor. 26 (3/4): 40–43.
- ^ 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
- ^ Escuela Nacional Sindical (2008:24)
- ^ Martin-Ortega, Olga (2008), "Deadly Ventures? Multinational Corporations and Paramilitaries in Colombia", Revista electrónica de estudios internacionales
- ^ International Trade Union Confederation (2009), Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights: Colombia Survey09.ituc-csi.org
Further reading
- McClintock, Michael (1992). Instruments of Statecraft: U.S. Guerilla Warfare, Counter-Insurgency, Counter-Terrorism, 1940–1990. New York, NY: ISBN 978-0-394-55945-2.
- Stokes, Doug (2004). America's Other War: Terrorizing Colombia. London and New York, NY: ISBN 978-1-842-77546-2.
- "Killings, Arbitrary Detentions, and Death Threats: The Reality of Trade Unionism in Colombia". Amnesty International. 3 July 2007. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
External links
- John F. Henning Center for International Labor Relations, University of California, Berkeley, Labor Rights in Colombia