1 June, 2011
Since last year, ICEM affiliates in Colombia have been participating in a project to create strong national unions for IMF affiliates in Colombia, Fetramecol and Utrammicol. The project’s objective is to strengthen trade union unity.
The ICEM and the IMF have a common interest in strengthening trade unions in Colombia and both federations have been concerned about the situation of Colombian trade unions. Union membership is among the lowest in Latin America due to anti-trade union practices and to the obstacles to trade union activity created by the government. The creation of “employment cooperatives” (cooperativas de trabajo asociado - CTAs) has led to a deterioration in the quality of jobs, nullified inalienable workers’ rights and made jobs precarious.
In 2009, a project was started to create national unions for the IMF affiliates in Colombia, Fetramecol and Utrammicol. This project was supported by IF Metall and LO-TCO of Sweden and its main objective was to strengthen metalworkers’ unions, improve co-operation between affiliates at the national level and strengthen trade union unity.
Three regional workshops and one national workshop take place four times a year and the project is due to conclude in 2012. To date, these workshops have discussed such issues as collective agreements and collective bargaining and developed proposals to deal with the problems that face trade unionism at the national level. This year’s central theme is trade union structures.
When the project began, the main objective was to create the conditions to unite IMF affiliates in Colombia into one national organisation. However, the project, which also covers Chile, is now focusing on the creation of broader industrial unions and political alliances in the regions, in the context of the merger of three major international trade union federations (IMF, ICEM and ITGLWF).
In 2010, Carlos Bustos, ICEM coordinator in Colombia, invited IMF affiliates to participate in the federation’s current activities and in various national meetings. Meanwhile, Colombian ICEM affiliates began to attend the project seminars, explains Nohora Tovar, of Fetramecol and joint national coordinator of the project.
Bustos adds that this year it was decided to increase participation of ICEM colleagues in the three regions where the project is operational (Bogotá, Boyacá and Medellín). Luis Velázquez of Utrammicol, who is the other joint national coordinator, says that participation has been very good and IMF affiliates have welcomed the initiative as well.
Both explain that at the end of 2010 the National Council formed by Fetramecol and Utrammicol was renamed the Unity Council and extended to include the ICEM affiliates. This council established committees to draft statutes and, along with ICEM colleagues, established an action plan with a dual focus: first, initiatives to promote unity and second, development of education and training.
Marino Vani, from the IMF’s Regional Office, explains that the project has forced each organisation to assess the situation and promote joint actions to strengthen their unions and formulate common objectives. The project proposal to discuss particular issues with a view to developing a trade union agenda has provoked discussion and resulted in new trade union practices, although the unions have yet to develop a broader consensual strategy with a unified agenda and action. It is hoped that the project will encourage union members to learn and to understand the need to create united and representative national trade unions that include precarious and outsourced workers and in this way strengthen the position of all members.