Workers' struggles must be international

Jairo del Río, 37, is president of Sindicato de Trabajadores de Tubos del Caribe (SINTRATUCAR), the union organizing workers at the Tubos del Caribe plant in Cartagena, Colombia. He is an industrial instrument technician with experience in oil refineries and has been working for eight years for Tubos del Caribe.
He began to get involved in the trade union movement when the Tenaris Group bought Tubos del Caribe three years ago. "I saw how Tenaris immediately began to violate workers' rights, for example, by imposing a working day of 12 hours or more and not allowing a rest day after a 48 hour working week; carrying out mass sackings of employees who had worked for Tubos del Caribe for more than ten years or who had occupational diseases; and ignoring disciplinary procedures that are supposed to allow workers to defend themselves. All these things encouraged me and a group of colleagues to form a trade union on March 15, 2009."
SINTRATUCAR, which is affiliated to IMF affiliate FETRAMECOL, began with 25 members but had 70 by the following day. The union now has 243 members. Jairo has been president since the union was formed although he says, "I really had no experience, so I have had to study hard and seek out good advice from lawyers and friends in other trade unions."
Violation of trade union rights at Tubos de Caribe, especially the death threats to union leaders, including Jairo del Río, have not gone unnoticed. The IMF has written to the government and the company repudiating the death threats and demanding respect for human and trade union rights.
"As is well-known, Colombia is number one in the world for killing trade union leaders, including 49 in 2009 alone. Most of these murders remain unpunished. Investigations are currently being made into allegations that some multinational companies are paying paramilitary groups to kill trade union members. As leaders of SINTRATUCAR, we have not been immune to this phenomenon. We and our families have received death threats since August 31, 2009."
The dispute, explained Jairo, began in July 2009 when the union presented a list of demands and the company refused to negotiate and threatened to close the factory. "This showed us just how intransigent the company is. It has not forgiven us for organizing ourselves to demand our rights and for frustrating their plan for mass sackings," he explained.
Jairo appreciates the importance of global trade union networks within companies, such as the one at the Tenaris Group. "The World Council was the best thing that could happen to us as a union and every day we are grateful to colleagues on the Council and the IMF for their support and solidarity. The Council allows us to interact with workers from other factories and learn from their experience and it is also a very good tool for denouncing the company internationally."
In April this year, the Tenaris Workers' World Council met in Colombia. One of its objectives was to mediate in the dispute at Tubos del Caribe and seek dialogue with the company's management, which refuses to recognize the Council.
"Although management refused to speak with us, it was a tremendous experience for the workers. We organized activities and were able to learn about the strategies being used to negotiate agreements with the company. In addition, the Council has actively participated in the campaign to denounce the company at the national and international levels regarding the death threats we have received," explained Jairo.
Jairo believes in the importance of trade union solidarity. "Workers' struggles must be international. Only in this way will we be able to confront the multinational companies that exploit us every day and that bleed our economies to death. They claim to create jobs but they leave misery and illness in their wake when they go."