facebooktwittertelegramwhatsapp
copy short urlprintemail
+ A
A -
webmaster

Reuters
WASHINGTON
US and Colombian labour unions said the Colombian government failed to enforce worker protections in a free trade agreement with the United States, raising questions about similar provisions in a massive pan-Pacific deal.
The complaint, to be filed with a division of the US Labour Department, said threats and acts of violence against trade unionists in Colombia were neither properly investigated nor prosecuted, according to an advance copy that Reuters saw on Monday. The AFL-CIO and four Colombian unions said in the complaint that since the US-Colombian trade deal took effect in 2011, some 99 Colombian workers and worker advocates were killed as they tried to exercise their rights. Six workers were kidnapped, and 955 death threats were received, the complaint said.
The unions, which also include Colombia's USO for oil workers and Sintrainagro for farm workers, also said the Colombian government ignored protections for workers who want to unionize and allowed the rampant use of labour subcontractors that obscure the direct relationship between companies and those who perform their work.
The complaint said the oil and sugar sectors were among the businesses where workers remain oppressed.
"The failure to enforce fundamental labour rights artificially distorts the cost of labour in the oil sector because Colombian companies face different conditions of competition than they would face were the laws effectively enforced," the unions said in the complaint.
copy short url   Copy
17/05/2016
568