22 April, 2010Refused entry at the Tenaris plant in Italy, a visiting Colombian trade union leader was instead met at the gate by workers in a show of solidarity.
ITALY/COLOMBIA: Jairo del Rio, president of the Colombian trade union SINTRATUCAR, met with workers at the gate of the Tenaris plant in Bergamo, Italy on April 20 after his entry to the plant was refused by company management.
The Italian workers expressed their solidarity with Jairo del Rio and the workers he represents at the Tenaris Tubos del Caribe plant in Cartagena in Colombia where there have been problems with management and death threats against the union's leaders. Jairo del Rio has been threatened with death four times since the creation of the union at the Cartagena plant one year ago.
The Italian Tenaris workers showed great interest in hearing about the challenges that the Colombian workers are facing and expressed their solidarity with Jairo del Rio and SINTRATUCAR.
Jairo del Rio's visit to the plant was another concrete act of solidarity following a solidarity mission by an IMF delegation of Tenaris workers and their representatives to Cartagena, Colombia in February/March this year.
Jairo del Rio was invited to Italy by FIOM-CGIL to attend its XXV Congress, where he gave a stirring and loudly applauded speech, before travelling to Bergamo to meet with Tenaris workers in Bergamo at the invitation of IMF's three Italian affiliates, FIOM-CGIL, FIM-CISL and UILM-UIL.