Written evidence submitted by the Trades
Union Congress (TUC) and Justice for Colombia (JFC)
TRADE UNION
RIGHTS IN
COLOMBIA
Overview
The situation faced by trade union members in
Colombia continues to be critical and it remains the most dangerous
place in the world to carry out trade union activities. Colombian
trade unionists, whether leaders or grassroots members, are experiencing
a fully-fledged humanitarian crisis as the victims of selective,
systematic and persistent violence directed against them with
total impunity. As well as the ongoing human rights abuses there
have been continuous and increasingly violent attacks by the Government,
employers and the courts on collective bargaining, the right to
strike and social dialogue as a whole—set against the background
of major non-compliance with obligations arising from ratification
of ILO Conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining.
Large scale restructurings of state enterprises have taken place
which appeared, in most cases, to be aimed solely at eliminating
existing collective agreements and destroying trade union structures
in the enterprises concerned.
Physical Violence
Last year 99 trade union activists—nine
more than in 2003—were killed, mostly in connection with
collective bargaining disputes or strikes. This figure represents
68% of all of the murders of trade union activists around the
world during 2004. Already this year we have confirmed details
of a further 44 murders and we fear this number may rise in the
coming months as the presidential elections approach.
Hundreds of trade unionists, both this year
and last, received death threats, whilst many were victims of
attempted murder or were abducted or "disappeared".
Many have been arrested and the army and police continue to intimidate
and deny the right to free assembly. May Day celebrations in 2004
and 2005 were harshly repressed with many union leaders injured
and one participant being forcibly "disappeared" in
2004, and at least one participant being beaten to death by police
in 2005.
The most recent statistics collected by the
ICFTU and the Colombian trade union centres show an increase in
the total of murders, death threats and arbitrary arrests. There
has also been a large increase in violence and other human rights
abuses committed against women trade unionists with 26 assassinated
since the start of last year.
Where the perpetrator is known, figures show
that 50% of violations are carried out by army-backed paramilitary
groups, 41% by state officials, 6% by common criminals and 3%
by opposition rebel groups.
Trade unionists are regularly subject to arbitrary
arrest on allegations of "rebellion" and, after months
of imprisonment, are usually released without formal charge or
trial. The allegation itself, however, is sufficient to increase
the likelihood they will be targeted by the paramilitaries.
Expulsions of International Trade Union Visitors
On various occasions in the past year Colombian
authorities have attempted to prevent international trade union
delegates from entering the country, including a delegation led
by TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O'Grady in November 2004.
Others, who came attempting to monitor the situation and were
subsequently refused entry and deported include: Victor Baez Mosqueira,
General Secretary of the Inter-American Regional Organisation
of the International Confederation of Free Trades Unions (ICFTU-ORIT),
Cameron Duncan, Regional Secretary of Public Services International
(PSI), Rodolfo Ben-«tez, Regional Secretary of Union Network
International (UNI) and Antonio Rodr-«guez Fritz, Regional
Secretary of the International Transport Federation (ITF). Officials
from the DAS security department at Bogota« airport also
harassed other international trade union representatives including
He«le"ne Bouneaud from the French confederation CGT,
who was threatened with deportation, photographed and had her
fingerprints taken.
Impunity
Almost complete impunity persisted and of approximately
3,600 documented cases of assassinations of trade union members
in the past 15 years the Colombian Government has been able to
provide details of only six convictions. In addition, many murder
cases are not investigated at all and the Colombian Government
continues to claim, in the face of overwhelming evidence to the
contrary (and despite the existence of a poorly implemented protection
programme for trade unionists), that violence against trade unionists
is a result of the general conflict in Colombia, rather than a
form of selective and systematic violence directed against workers
and their organisations. Many killings, including a massacre of
three trade union leaders in August last year and the extrajudicial
executions of two others last February, have been carried out
by members of the army. The armed forces', directly or through
collaboration with illegal paramilitary groups, are suspected
of involvement in many other attacks.
Limited Right to Strike
Though the Colombian Constitution recognises
the right to strike, in practice numerous Colombian laws which
ban strikes remain applicable to a wide range of public services.
In most cases these do not necessarily qualify as "essential"
services, in contravention of the ILO definition that only covers
those "the interruption of which would endanger the life,
personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population".
Furthermore, the law prohibits federations and confederations
from calling strikes, and the Ministry of Health and Social Protection
(responsible for monitoring and administrative control of industrial
relations) can still impose mandatory arbitration on a conflict
when the strike goes on for more than 60 days, in contravention
of ILO Convention 87 and recommendations by the Committee of Experts.
In 2003, employers challenged the legality of strikes in 30 cases—26
were declared illegal.
One case worthy of special mention are the recent
strikes by the oil workers' union USO which have repeatedly been
declared illegal despite the fact that the oil sector is not considered,
under international law, to be classed as an essential service
and the ILO's supervisory bodies have found them to be legitimate
disputes. As a result of their participation in these strikes
hundreds of USO members have been fired from their jobs. At the
time of writing, USO leaders in Cartagena had begun a hunger strike
to protest against the privatisation of the refinery in Cartagena.
Limited Right to Collective Bargaining
Barely 1% of employees are covered by collective
agreements and many of these are in fact covered by collective
accords ("pactos colectivos"). These are supposed to
be an alternative to the agreements negotiated by the unions and
apply to non-unionised workers. In reality there is generally
no negotiation in such cases since the "accords" are
imposed by the employer and tend to be used as a pretext for sidelining
the unions and avoiding a system of mature industrial relations.
Colombian legislation has introduced clauses—in
violation of ILO Conventions 98 and 151—that discriminate
against the jobs and collective bargaining rights of public sector
workers, by classifying them as "official workers" or
"civil servants". Unions representing public sector
workers are not allowed to put forward demands or sign collective
agreements, since their right to collective bargaining is limited
to submitting "respectful requests" that do not cover
key aspects of industrial relations such as wages, benefits and
employment contracts.
Furthermore, in both the public and private
sectors, new provisions of the labour law, which were purported
to introduce greater flexibility in employment contracts, have
led to widespread subcontracting in the form of employment contracts
which are deregulated or assimilated to contracts under civil
law, as for example in the case of the so-called "work partnership
co-operatives" ("co-operativas de trabajo asociado").
Because the labour regulations do not apply to these types of
contract, workers are systematically excluded from trade union
and collective bargaining rights.
Multiple factors have contributed to the reduced
number of workers covered by collective agreements, though the
chief ones are, of course, the low level of union membership and
the violent attacks on the unions. Trade union membership has
fallen by 50% in a decade and now stands at around one million—half
of them members of the teachers' union FECODE.
Labour Reform
A reform of labour regulations was imposed,
without any form of consultation or social dialogue whatsoever
(despite the existence of an ILO special technical co-operation
programme for Colombia), which resulted in longer daily working
time, reduced overtime payments, reductions in severance pay,
increased worker flexibility, restrictions on collective bargaining
and the loss of previously acquired rights. For example, the new
law excludes the possibility of apprenticeship contracts being
covered by collective bargaining. According to the ILO conventions,
collective bargaining should cover "all written agreements
concerning working conditions and terms of employment".
Implementation of an Anti-Union Culture by the
Government
The way in which three major state-owned companies
(Ecopetrol in the oil sector, Telecom in the telecommunications
sector, and the Instituto de Seguros Sociales in the health sector)
were restructured speaks volumes about the labour policies of
the current government. Telecom was liquidated, without the company
following the required legal procedures for this kind of operation,
in order to destroy the 6,000-strong union and put an end to collective
bargaining. At the same time, the Government used the assets of
the liquidated company to set up another non-unionised telecommunications
company, which only employed one fifth of the workforce of the
old company under employment contracts and working conditions
far worse than those formerly enjoyed by the workers.
The Colombian oil company ECOPETROL and the
Social Security Institute (Instituto de Seguros Sociales, ISS)
were divided into two companies, thereby reducing the unions'
influence and denying the workers in the newly-formed companies
many of the negotiated rights they had enjoyed in their former
companies. The majority of the ISS employees were classified as
"civil servants", thus losing the rights they had previously
enjoyed under the collective agreement signed between their union
(Sintraseguridad Social) and the ISS, including the right to be
represented by that union.
Additional Points of Concern
(a) In recent years the Colombian Government
has made virtually no progress on implementing the recommendations
made by Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights in Colombia, nor those made by the supervisory bodies of
the ILO. This is despite repeated promises made by senior government
officials in recent years to implement the recommendations.
(b) The UK Government continues to administer
a substantial and primarily classified military assistance project
in Colombia despite continued attacks by the Colombian armed forces
against trade unionists and others expressing disagreement with
government polices. The assistance is believed to include the
permanent presence of UK troops on Colombian soil and regular
visits to the UK by Colombian military officers—including
at least two officers against whom credible allegations of serious
human rights abuses have been made. In addition there is no transparent
monitoring mechanism in place to ensure that assistance is not
benefiting those who abuse human rights and it is widely believed
that military units involved in repeated attacks against the civilian
population are receiving UK assistance.
(c) It appears that no progress has been
made in the investigation into the massacre in the "Peace
Community" of San Jose de Apartado in February 2005. Eight
members of the community, including community leader Luis Eduardo
Guerra and three young children, were brutally killed by what
human rights organisations and the community themselves allege
were members of the Colombian army. Despite international pressure
on the Colombian Government and promises to undertake a prompt
and transparent investigation, the authorities have still made
little or no advances on the case.
(d) The Colombian Government continue to
provide international organisations (such as the ILO) as well
as human rights organisations (such as JFC) with statistics and
figures that are patently false. These include figures showing
that less trade union members have been murdered than is really
the case and others pertaining to show that more perpetrators
are being punished than is really the case. As a consequence of
disquiet about the veracity of evidence and the incontrovertible
persistent impunity, the 2005 ILO Conference in June decided that
a high-level tripartite mission should visit Colombia. The key
conclusions of the mission, which took place in October, were
that:
— combating impunity required commitment
to continuous tripartite dialogue on fundamental human rights,
clear political will and the necessary resources;
— existing tripartite bodies such at
the Inter-institutional Committee for the Promotion of Human Rights;
the Permanent Consultative Committee on Labour and Wages Policy;
and the Special Committee for the Resolution of Conflicts (before
they might be submitted to the ILO) should be reactivated;
— there should be a permanent ILO presence
in Colombia to develop a programme and sustainable activity to
combat impunity, to guarantee more effective realisation of freedom
of association, tripartite dialogue and the aims of the Special
Technical Cooperation Programme.
Notes
This report was prepared by Simon Steyne (TUC
International Officer and Worker Member of the ILO Governing Body)
and Liam Craig-Best (Secretary of Justice for Colombia).
The sources consulted include:
— The Unified Workers Centre of Colombia
(CUT).
— The National Trade Union School of
Colombia (ENS).
— The Colombian Commission of Jurists
(CCJ).
— The International Confederation of
Free Trade Union (ICFTU).
— Reports of the supervisory bodies
and of the Governing Body of the ILO.
The TUC, supported by Justice for Colombia,
maintains close relations with the three national trade union
centres in Colombia, which co-operate through a "united command"
(Commando Unitaria), especially with the largest of the three—the
CUT—and with the ICFTU-affiliated CTC. Regular meetings
are held, in Colombia, Britain and Geneva, between the leadership
of the British and Colombian trade union movements and there is
a continuous exchange of trade union visitors and delegations.
The TUC has been active in supporting the Colombian trade unions
in the ILO and in promoting greater co-ordination of international
trade union solidarity in the Global Unions.
Justice for Colombia was established, with the
support of the TUC, as an alliance of TUC-affiliated unions and
NGOs, to broaden and deepen British trade union solidarity with
the Colombian trade union movement.
Trades Union Congress
Justice for Colombia
November 2005
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