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2 October, 2006
An International Day of Mobilisation was held on 26 September to bring attention to a commitment not yet fulfilled in Colombia. That commitment, signed 1 June 2006 by Colombian trade union federations, the government of President Alvaro Uribe, and multinational companies operating in Colombia at the ILO in Geneva, promised freedom of association, full human rights, and meaningful social dialogue in union-management relationships in Colombia.
The agreement also pledged to establish an ILO permanent representative in the South American country. Such an office is not only to be charged with ensuring that the ILO’s concept of decent work is carried out, but would also protect the basic rights of workers and their trade union representatives. According to the Colombian Commission of Jurists, over a two-year period, from 2003 to the end of 2005, 271 labour activists were killed in Colombia.
The Day of Action on September 26 was called for by three national trade union federations in Colombia, CUT, CGT, and CTC, as well as by the ICFTU because commitments from the June signing in Geneva have not materialized.
Some one million members of Colombian trade unions and other groups marched peacefully through the streets of Bogotá, Cali, Medellin, and Cucuta on that day. Leaders and members of ICEM-affiliated unions Sintraelecol, Sintracarbon, Sintravidricol, Sintraquim, Sintracarcol, Fenaltec, and the Chemical, Pharmaceutical & Petrochemical Union of Colombia marched shoulder to shoulder with Colombian Members of Parliament seeking to implement the Geneva initiative, as well for an end to Uribe’s privatisation policies.
Demonstrators also expressed opposition to current negotiations between the Uribe government and the US over a free trade agreement.
On 19 September in Brussels, global trade union leaders, including ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs, met with Colombian Vice President Francisco Santos Calderón seeking speedy advances on the Geneva resolve.
The ICEM is two years into its own programme regarding meaningful social dialogue in Colombia between affiliated trade unions and some seven multinational companies. “We see the process of social dialogue as a major step to achieving peace and justice in this war-torn country,” said the ICEM’s Higgs.