Laura ClawsonFollowforDaily Kos Labor
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has sent President Obama a letter citing the murders of union leaders and other abuses of workers in Colombia as reasons for Obama not to advance the Colombia Trade Agreement:
Simply put, Colombia should not be rewarded with a trade agreement until it develops a proven track record of ensuring that workers can exercise the fundamental rights of free association and collective bargaining; preventing violence against union leaders and other social justice advocates; and bringing to justice those who perpetrated such crimes. Providing Colombia with unfettered access to the U.S. market, and beneficial terms for investment, government procurement, and other commercial areas without requiring sustained and measurable progress toward protecting human rights will undercut our leverage to encourage Colombia to follow up its promises and intentions with effective actions.
Already in 2011, 22 Colombian union leaders have been murdered, 15 of them since the government there implemented a labor action plan to improve the situation for workers. The letter lists their names and brief information about their lives and deaths: teachers, engineers, prison guards, banana plantation workers, shot or hanged with barbed wire or killed in intentional explosions.
The letter also cites the murder of six Catholic priests this year in Colombia, and the economic effects the trade agreement would have on the United States, including the loss or displacement of up to 55,000 jobs.
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