USW Calls on Colombia to Stop ‘Impunity Slaying’ of Unionists

[Omaha Steve]

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USW Calls on Colombia to Stop ‘Impunity Slaying’ of Unionists

President Uribe Urged to Protect SINALTRAINAL Leaders, Stem Paramilitaries

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--News from USW: Leo W. Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers (USW) today released a letter sent to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez to urge “all actions necessary to protect the lives of the SINALTRAINAL members, its leaders and their families.”

The USW president expressed grave concern for the lives of several members of the SINALTRAINAL union in Colombia, naming leaders from Bucaramanga as Javier Correa, Luis Eduardo Garcia and Jose Domingo Florez. Describing a tide of paramilitary re-mobilization, Gerard cited an explicit threat written by the Black Eagles, who said they would “bury the union members and their families in a mass grave on Christmas Day if they do not cease their union activities and leave the area.”

Gerard related an incident on Sept. 27 involving the son of Florez, who was picked up by presumed paramilitary gunmen, thrown into a van, beaten and told they won’t stop until his father is dismembered.

The legislative director of the USW’s Washington office, Holly Hart, said the union remains opposed to the recently negotiated free trade agreement with Colombia. “As workers and as a labor movement, we react strongly against impunity slayings, making it completely inappropriate to support a trade deal until the Colombian government meets an established set of human rights benchmarks.”

In the letter to Uribe, the USW provided highlights of the latest report by USLEAP (U.S. Labor and Education Project) on trade union killings, confirming Colombia leads the world with 72 slayings in 2006. “This represents 54 percent of all trade union killing world-wide,” Gerard emphasized. “And so far in 2007, the official Colombian government figure of trade union leaders killed thus far is 23.”

He wrote, “We are very concerned about this situation, especially as impunity in Colombia for the slaying of trade unionists remains at over 98 percent.”

Copies of the USW letter were transmitted to congressional democratic leaders in both the U.S. House and the Senate. SINALTRAINAL is a small independent union in Colombia, representing food and beverage workers. Violence, threats and impunity slayings have so intimidated workers, the country’s labor movement has shrunk to 1947 levels.

A copy of the letter and a ‘Colombia Fact Sheet’ from a September 2007 report by USLEAP on ‘Murders of Trade Unionists and Impunity Under Uribe’ is available at www.usw.org.

Contacts

United Steelworkers
Dan Kovalik, 412-562-2541, 412-335-6442
Gary Hubbard, 202-778-4384, 202-256-8125