14 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 22/2004
The 20-million-member ICEM is calling on its 425 global affiliates to come to the assistance of Colombian oil workers, members of Uniòn Sindical Obrera (USO), who have been on strike now for eight days against the country's national oil company, Ecopetrol.
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs is calling on trade unions across the globe to write to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to protest not only government actions that caused the strike, but the Uribe Administration's response to the strike. A day after the strike began on 22 April, the government declared the walkout illegal on the ill-conceived notion that petroleum refining is an "essential service" of a nation.
"Declaring the strike by members of USO illegal and citing petroleum refining as an essential service to Colombia contradicts ILO jurisprudence on what constitutes a nation's essential services," wrote ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs to President Uribe. "Case after case has omitted oil refining from that category."
Higgs also said in the letter the act of making the strike illegal, "considering Colombia's volatile political circumstances" has brought "harsh repercussions" to the striking oil workers.
The strike, affecting 5,500 workers, is primarily over the government's decision to restructure Ecopetrol, which likely will mean a reduction in workers' benefits. USO is also seeking a new collective wage agreement through the strike.
Since declaring the strike illegal, the Colombian government has placed legal sanctions on the officers of USO, arrested 17 strike leaders from different petrol plants and has threatened military force to bust the strike. Police have announced that anti-terrorism measures will be taken against striking workers, and the USO reports a great many death threats have been made against workers and USO leaders alike.
The restructuring, announced in June 2003, has seen the government sign new and extended contracts over exploration and production of oil fields with private sector operators, most of which are foreign based. USO contends that such rewritten contracts with relaxed terms will plunder Colombia's natural resources and eventually will lead to the privatization of Ecopetrol.
"We know that the national economy, the workers, and Colombian people in general will be seriously affected," said USO Secretary General Juan Ramon Rios in a public statement.
USO calls the Ecopetrol dispute the most important strike in Colombia in over 20 years and is asking oil and petrochemical unions across the world to monitor exports of refined products to Colombia in the event the country's reserves dwindle. The union is also asking the global trade union movement to protest directly to Colombian embassies in their home countries.
The ICEM issued a circular today to its affiliates asking them to write letters of protest to: Alvaro Uribe Velez, Presidente de la República de Colombia, Casa de Narino, Bogota DC ([email protected]).
ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs is calling on trade unions across the globe to write to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to protest not only government actions that caused the strike, but the Uribe Administration's response to the strike. A day after the strike began on 22 April, the government declared the walkout illegal on the ill-conceived notion that petroleum refining is an "essential service" of a nation.
"Declaring the strike by members of USO illegal and citing petroleum refining as an essential service to Colombia contradicts ILO jurisprudence on what constitutes a nation's essential services," wrote ICEM General Secretary Fred Higgs to President Uribe. "Case after case has omitted oil refining from that category."
Higgs also said in the letter the act of making the strike illegal, "considering Colombia's volatile political circumstances" has brought "harsh repercussions" to the striking oil workers.
The strike, affecting 5,500 workers, is primarily over the government's decision to restructure Ecopetrol, which likely will mean a reduction in workers' benefits. USO is also seeking a new collective wage agreement through the strike.
Since declaring the strike illegal, the Colombian government has placed legal sanctions on the officers of USO, arrested 17 strike leaders from different petrol plants and has threatened military force to bust the strike. Police have announced that anti-terrorism measures will be taken against striking workers, and the USO reports a great many death threats have been made against workers and USO leaders alike.
The restructuring, announced in June 2003, has seen the government sign new and extended contracts over exploration and production of oil fields with private sector operators, most of which are foreign based. USO contends that such rewritten contracts with relaxed terms will plunder Colombia's natural resources and eventually will lead to the privatization of Ecopetrol.
"We know that the national economy, the workers, and Colombian people in general will be seriously affected," said USO Secretary General Juan Ramon Rios in a public statement.
USO calls the Ecopetrol dispute the most important strike in Colombia in over 20 years and is asking oil and petrochemical unions across the world to monitor exports of refined products to Colombia in the event the country's reserves dwindle. The union is also asking the global trade union movement to protest directly to Colombian embassies in their home countries.
The ICEM issued a circular today to its affiliates asking them to write letters of protest to: Alvaro Uribe Velez, Presidente de la República de Colombia, Casa de Narino, Bogota DC ([email protected]).