Colombia is most dangerous place for labor unions

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Houston Chronicle

June 23, 2007, 10:48PM
Colombia is most dangerous place for labor unions

Over the past 15 years, some 2,000 union members have died in Colombia, more than in the rest of the world's nations combined

By JOHN OTIS
South America Bureau

LA CEJA, COLOMBIA — The reaction was fast and furious when 40 workers at the Bochica flower-packing plant tried to form a union.

Their homes were spray-painted with graffiti labeling them Marxist guerrillas. Paramilitary death squads sent them leaflets proclaiming them targets. Even the police weighed in, warning the Bochica employees that they could not guarantee their safety.
(snip)

Colombia is the most dangerous spot on the globe for organized labor.
Over the past 15 years, some 2,000 union members have been killed, more than in all other countries combined. Often, death threats stop workers from organizing.

Now, the violence is emerging as a major bone of contention in the United States.

Democrats are threatening to block a trade agreement with Colombia unless President Alvaro Uribe, the Bush administration's closest ally in Latin America, improves conditions for organized labor and cracks down on the killers.





Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/4914050.html