[CTC] Just Investment Newsletter (Focus on Renco vs Paru case)

Wed Apr 18 09:03:45 PDT 2012

Begin forwarded message:

From: Gimena Sanchez <GSanchez at wola.org>
Date: April 16, 2012 11:12:11 AM PDT
To: Gimena Sanchez <GSanchez at wola.org>
Subject: Thanks!

Dear Everyone,

I would like to thank all the persons and organizations who took  
action last week in order to try to convince the Obama Administration  
that declaring a victory on the Labor Action Plan was unwise given  
that the conditions have not been met. Unfortunately, they decided  
against upholding labor rights and jumped on the Colombia PR bandwagon.

I share with you the following statements/articles:

USW Decries Pronouncement of Colombia’s Compliance with the Labor  
Action Plan
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/usw-decries-us-pronouncement-of-colombias-compliance-with-labor-action-plan-vows-defense-of-colombian-unionists-147514795.html
Statement in Response to Obama’s Implementation of Colombia Free Trade  
Agreement (FTA) by Lori Wallach of Public Citizen http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/

ENS report on the Labor Action Plan--Balance del primer año del Plan  
de Acción Obama-Santos: La visión de la ENS y las centrales sindicales http://www.ens.org.co

Below you will find the statements by the AFL-CIO and Colombian trade  
unions:
For Immediate Release                                       Contact:  
Josh Goldstein 202-637-5018

Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on
U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
April 15, 2012

Today’s announcement that Colombia has successfully implemented key  
elements of the Labor Action Plan and that the U.S.-Colombia trade  
agreement will enter into force on May 15th is deeply disappointing  
and troubling. It signals to average Colombians that their struggles  
are not our struggles. Rather than insisting that the Colombian  
Government honor its promises to Colombia’s working class, our  
government signaled with today’s decision that a little improvement is  
good enough. If a little improvement were good enough, women might  
still be fighting for the right to vote, and our workplaces would be  
filled with children. Premature certification of the Labor Action Plan  
undermines the early signs of progress that have been achieved for  
Colombian workers – and could prevent further progress.

Rather than moving to prematurely implement the U.S.-Colombia FTA,  
President Obama today should have signaled that he stands shoulder to  
shoulder with the working people of Colombia and the U.S. and will  
continue to fight for their right to improve their working conditions  
and standards of living. On behalf of the working families of both  
nations, the AFL-CIO, CUT, and CTC strongly oppose today’s  
announcement and urge our governments to redouble their efforts to  
ensure that Colombian workers can organize to improve their lives in a  
climate of respect for their fundamental rights, without fear for  
their own safety or that of their families. We regret that the  
Administration has placed commercial interests above the interests of  
workers and their trade unions.

###

Joint Statement by AFL-CIO, CUT, CTC on
U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement

The AFL-CIO, CUT, and CTC, the national labor organizations of the  
U.S. and Colombia, join in opposing today’s announcement that the U.S.– 
Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will soon enter into force.

In April 2011, the U.S. and Colombia agreed to an Action Plan on Labor  
Rights intended to “protect internationally recognized labor rights,  
prevent violence against labor leaders, and prosecute the perpetrators  
of such violence” in Colombia.  Though the Action Plan includes some  
measures that Colombian unions and the AFL-CIO have been demanding for  
years, its scope was too limited: it resolved neither the grave  
violations of union freedoms or human rights.

We have been monitoring the progress of the Action Plan and conclude  
that, although new laws and directives are in place, the Government of  
Colombia has not yet demonstrated successful implementation.  Workers  
across the whole economy continue to be forced into indirect  
employment relationships—preventing them from exercising their rights  
to free association and collective bargaining—because the Government  
has not completely lived up to its promises regarding “cooperatives”  
and other employment relationships that affect labor rights.  Nor has  
the Government of Colombia compiled a successful record of criminal  
prosecutions of employers who illegally interfere with workers’  
fundamental rights.  Labor activists and other human rights defenders  
remain subject to threats and violence, including murder, when they  
stand up to fight for their rights.

We fear that prematurely declaring the plan a success will not only  
halt progress, but lead to backtracking.  Today’s announcement  
shortcuts the work-in-progress that is the Action Plan and removes a  
key incentive that has been motivating reform.

In addition, we agree that the underlying trade agreement perpetuates  
a destructive economic model that expands the rights and privileges of  
big business and multinational corporations at the expense of workers,  
consumers, and the environment.  The agreement uses a model that has  
historically benefitted a small minority of business interests, while  
leaving workers, families, and communities behind.

Rather than moving to implement the FTA, we urge the leadership in  
both countries to re-examine not only the progress on the Action Plan,  
but the entire FTA.  A new trade model that creates jobs, boosts  
economic development, and increases standards of living in both  
countries is possible.  We must work together to delete the provisions  
that imperil worker rights and freedoms as well as public interest  
regulations.  Instead, we should add provisions to ensure stronger  
worker protections, a healthy environment, safe food and products, and  
the ability to regulate financial and other markets to avoid crises  
like that of 2008.

CUT 
                                                                             CTC
President: Luís Miguel Morantes A.                            
President: Tarcisio Mora Godoy
General Secretary: Rosa Elena Flerez G.                    General  
Secretary: Domingo Rafael Tova Arrieta

AFL-CIO
President: Richard L. Trumka
Secretary-Treasurer: Elizabeth Shuler
Executive Vice President: Arlene Holt Baker

En Español:

La AFL-CIO, la CUT, y la CTC, centrales sindicales de los EE.UU. y  
Colombia, se unen en la oposición al anuncio de hoy de que el Tratado  
de Libre Comercio (TLC) entre EE.UU. y Colombia pronto entrará en vigor.

En abril del 2011, los EE.UU. y Colombia acordaron un plan de acción  
sobre los derechos laborales destinada a "proteger derechos laborales  
internacionalmente reconocidos, prevenir la violencia contra  
dirigentes sindicales, y enjuiciar a los autores de esa violencia" en  
Colombia. Aunque el plan de acción incluye algunas medidas que los  
sindicatos colombianos y la AFL-CIO han estado pidiendo durante años,  
su alcance realmente ha sido muy limitado: no se resolvió ninguna de  
las graves violaciones de las libertades sindicales o los derechos  
humanos.

Hemos estado monitoreando los avances del Plan de Acción y concluimos  
que a pesar de nuevas leyes y directivas emitidas, el Gobierno de  
Colombia no ha demostrado aún una implementación exitosa. Los  
trabajadores de todas las ramas económicas siguen siendo relegados a  
un empleo indirecto y por lo tanto precario que les impide ejercer su  
derecho a la libre asociación y a la negociación colectiva porque el  
Gobierno no está completamente a la altura de sus promesas en relación  
con la eliminación  de las "cooperativas de trabajo asociado” y otras  
formas de vinculación, como las nuevas SAS (Sociedades anónimas  
simplificadas),  que afectan  los derechos laborales. El Gobierno de  
Colombia tampoco acumuló un récord de éxito de los procesos penales de  
los empleadores que ilegalmente interfieren con los derechos  
fundamentales de los trabajadores. Los activistas laborales y  
defensores de derechos humanos siguen siendo objeto de amenazas y de  
violencia, inclusive asesinatos, cuando se levantan para luchar por  
sus derechos.

Tememos que declarar prematuramente el éxito del Plan, no sólo  
detendrá el progreso, sino que retrocederá. El anuncio de hoy cierra  
los accesos directos del trabajo en marcha y elimina un incentivo  
clave que ha motivado la reforma.

Además, estamos de acuerdo en que el tratado comercial subyacente  
perpetúa un modelo económico que  expande los derechos y privilegios  
de las grandes empresas y corporaciones multinacionales a costa de los  
trabajadores, consumidores y el medio ambiente. El acuerdo utiliza un  
modelo que históricamente ha beneficiado a una pequeña minoría de los  
intereses empresariales, dejando a los trabajadores, familias y  
comunidades atrás.

En lugar de avanzar para implementar el TLC, instamos a los dirigentes  
de ambos países a volver a examinar no sólo los avances en el Plan de  
Acción, sino también a todo el acuerdo de libre comercio. Un nuevo  
modelo de comercio que genere empleo, impulse el desarrollo económico  
y aumente los niveles de vida en ambos países, es posible. Debemos  
trabajar juntos para eliminar las disposiciones que ponen en riesgo  
los derechos de los trabajadores y las libertades así como las  
regulaciones de interés público. En su lugar, hay que añadir  
disposiciones para garantizar la mayor protección de los trabajadores,  
un medio ambiente sano, productos y alimentos seguros y la capacidad  
para regular los mercados financieros y de otros, para evitar crisis  
como la del 2008.

CUT 
                                                                             CTC
President: Luís Miguel Morantes A.                            
President: Tarcisio Mora Godoy
General Secretary: Rosa Elena Flerez G.                    General  
Secretary: Domingo Rafael Tova Arrieta

AFL-CIO
President: Richard L. Trumka
Secretary-Treasurer: Elizabeth Shuler
Executive Vice President: Arlene Holt Baker

Keri A. Shanks, Senior Secretary
AFL-CIO Media Outreach Department
(202) 637-5389
kshanks at aflcio.org
www.aflcio.org
opeiu local #2

Thanks again,
Gimena

Gimena Sanchez-Garzoli
Senior Associate for Colombia and the Andes
Washington Office on Latin America
Tele: (202) 797-2171 ext. 205
  Cell: (202) 489-1702
Email: gsanchez at wola.org
Website: www.wola.org
Skype: WOLAColombia
Twitter: wola_org
The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) is a US human rights  
organization that promotes democracy and socioeconomic justice in  
Latin America and the Caribbean through analysis and foreign policy  
proposals informed by strong partnerships with civil society  
counterparts in the region. Visit WOLA’s website to sign up for more  
information or donate now to help WOLA carry out its work.

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