Another murdered Colombian trade unionist – brought to you by “free” trade

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://goyes.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/901-bgde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://goyes.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/901-bgde.jpg" width="167" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oscar López Triviño</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit;">Meet Oscar López Triviño. He’s the latest victim of so-called free trade.<br /><br />On November 9 <a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2013/11/14/headlines/striking_nestle_worker_shot_dead_in_colombia" rel="nofollow">Oscar was shot dead</a> by paramilitaries in the Colombian city of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugalagrande" rel="nofollow">Bugalagrande</a>. Why? Because Oscar was a union member.<br /><br />Several days before his murder, Oscar’s union, <a href="http://www.sinaltrainal.org/" rel="nofollow">SINALTRAINAL</a>, had launched a hunger strike in front of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestl%C3%A9" rel="nofollow">Nestlé</a> factory where Oscar worked for more than 25 years. The company <a href="http://colombiareports.co/nestle-worker-union-activist-killed-receiving-threats-paramilitary-western-colombia/" rel="nofollow">withdrew from negotiations</a> several months ago and was trying to dump the union. Nestlé workers were demanding the company respect various agreements with the union.<br /><br />Any worker action, especially a strike, can be a deadly one in Colombia, the most dangerous country in the world to be a union member.<br /><br />The day before Oscar was killed, members of his union received death threats from paramilitaries. Amnesty International <a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AMR23/052/2013/en/a498ef80-0bb9-49ff-9c62-3eaa487f81b1/amr230522013en.html" rel="nofollow">reports</a>:</span><br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On 8 November, the paramilitary group Los Urabeños sent a death threat by SMS to the phones of José Onofre Esquivel Luna and Álvaro Varela Pérez, who are both leaders of the Bugalagrande branch of SINALTRAINAL and work for Nestlé. The death threat read: “Guerrilla fighters son-of-a-bitch you continue to mess with Nestlé [,] no more forgiveness [,] we will cut you up [,] death to all communists of SINALTRAINAL.”  </span></blockquote>This is what life is like for union members under the reign of a trade deal in a country that is notorious for anti-union violence.<br /><br />Armed corporate goons like Los Urabeños have been responsible for the murders of 11 other union members in Colombia this year alone. A <a href="http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/sites/democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/files/documents/Colombia%20trip%20report%20-%2010.29.13%20-%20formatted%20-%20FINAL.pdf" rel="nofollow">recent report</a> by US Reps. <a href="http://georgemiller.house.gov/" rel="nofollow">George Miller</a> and <a href="http://mcgovern.house.gov/">Jim McGovern</a> concluded that <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/10/trade-deal-didnt-end-antiunion-violence-in-Colombia.html">threats, assaults and disappearances are on the rise</a>. Last year 22 union members were murdered in Colombia. None of the murderers have been brought to justice.<br /><br />Since its inception in 1982, SINALTRAINAL alone has seen <a href="http://www.wola.org/publications/violence_threats_and_attacks_aim_to_undermine_sinaltrainal_for_defending_labor_rights" rel="nofollow">more than 20 of its members killed</a> by right-wing death squads. Among slain SINALTRAINAL members, 13 worked for Nestlé. The company has of course denied any connections to paramilitary violence.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DR42BsM_N0ObVVotaxHpLrxknyAEk_fz7OmbcilLgffM5RiVKlS87x0q8e_eM_Bx2nYHAQJ9c1xFuTbptDDK08UNbHz3PlpEQibw8n6OCMjKjUt8qdeST364AZlDeJO606wNHH3ncr9z/s1600/colombia-union-blood.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DR42BsM_N0ObVVotaxHpLrxknyAEk_fz7OmbcilLgffM5RiVKlS87x0q8e_eM_Bx2nYHAQJ9c1xFuTbptDDK08UNbHz3PlpEQibw8n6OCMjKjUt8qdeST364AZlDeJO606wNHH3ncr9z/s1600/colombia-union-blood.png" /></a>Oscar’s death is a tragic reminder of what can happen when governments enact trade deals to enrich corporations while providing no say or protections for workers – especially in a country like Colombia.</div><br />Yet that’s what is happening again with the <a href="http://www.teamster.org/teamster-magazine/2013-summer/main-stories/stop-tpp">Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)</a>, an anti-worker trade deal being negotiated behind closed doors by Pacific Rim countries. Among those countries is Vietnam, a country that is rife with labor abuses including sweatshop conditions, poverty wages and <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/vietnam-allows-forced-child-labor.html">child slavery</a>.<br /><br />If conditions in Colombia tell us anything, it’s that without public pressure the TPP will not only allow labor rights violations to continue in places like Vietnam, it will make them worse.<br /><br />Fortunately, members of Congress are waking up to the fact that trade deals that are not fully vetted hurt workers and the environment. More than 190 members of the House are on record <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/13/business/international/house-stalls-trade-pact-momentum.html?emc=edit_tnt_20131112&tntemail0=y&_r=3&" rel="nofollow">opposing fast-track authorization for the TPP</a>. That means they want a full debate on the entire agreement, not the quick up-or-down vote that has allowed bad deals like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States%E2%80%93Colombia_Free_Trade_Agreement" rel="nofollow">US-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement</a> to be ratified.<br /><br />Jim Hoffa wrote in the <em><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-p-hoffa/lawmakers-increasingly-re_b_4270072.html" rel="nofollow">Huffington Post</a></em> this week:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Fast track is an attack on democracy. Americans have been kept out of the loop on how the TPP will affect their everyday lives. The last thing we need is for politicians to fast-track a Pacific trade deal through Congress that allows them to build in secret provisions that help their campaign contributors, but hurt working- and middle-class families. </blockquote>The death of union members like Oscar in Colombia is every reason for bringing the TPP into the light of day. In the meantime, workers need to hold governments accountable when they allow unionists to be assassinated with impunity. Nestlé workers in Colombia should enjoy the same rights that <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2011/08/woo-hoo-another-teamster-organizing_25.html">Nestlé Teamsters</a> enjoy here in the U.S.!<br /><br />You can <a href="http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=800" rel="nofollow">sign the petition here</a> to tell the Colombian government to bring Oscar’s murderers to justice and provide security to other SINALTRAINAL members who remain at risk.<br /><br />¡Oscar presente!

Amnesty International anti-union violence Colombia fast track human rights nestle TPP Vietnam Another murdered Colombian trade unionist – brought to you by “free” trade

Oscar López Triviño Meet Oscar López Triviño. He’s the latest victim of so-called free trade. On November 9 Oscar was shot dead by paramili...

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Today's Teamster News 11.04.13

<a href="http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/15809/osha_weaknesses_force_workers_to_choose_report_safety_violations_or_keep_th/" rel="nofollow">OSHA Weaknesses Force Workers to Choose: Report Safety Violations, or Keep Their Jobs?</a>  In These Times   ... the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspects only 1 percent of workplaces in the United States in a given year. In the absence of inspections, that means more of the burden to report safety abuses falls on individual workers themselves. However, the CEG study shows that due to weak protection laws, many workers find themselves choosing between reporting a safety violation and keeping their jobs—creating a vicious cycle that can lead to workers too fearful to report potentially deadly workplace hazards...<br /><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/19786-state-department-apologizes-for-calling-unionization-a-security-threat" rel="nofollow">State Department Apologizes for Calling Unionization a Security Threat </a> truthout   ...at a private meeting with labor groups earlier this month, the State Department opened the door to collective bargaining by workers who perform critical services for the American government overseas...<br /><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2483652/William-Gross-Californian-billionaire-apologizes-wealth-accumulated-workers-expense.html" rel="nofollow">Billionaire apologizes for wealth he accumulated 'at expense of workers' and says rich should pay more taxes</a>  Daily Mail   ...‘Congratulations. Smoke that cigar, enjoy that Chateau Lafite 1989. But (mostly you guys) acknowledge your good fortune at having been born in the '40s, '50s or '60s ... and having had the privilege of riding a credit wave and a credit boom for the past three decades,’ he writes...<br /><a href="http://www.greens.org/s-r/60/60-06.html" rel="nofollow">Inside the Psyche of the 1%</a>  Synthesis/Regeneration   ...Do the rich and super-rich tend to be psychopaths, devoid of guilt or shame? Are the 1% lacking in compassion? Does their endless accumulation of possessions actually bring them little to no happiness? To each of these, the answer is “yes”—but a very qualified “yes” with lots of subtleties...<br /><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/citi-rich-families-are-hoarding-cash-2013-11" rel="nofollow">CITI: Rich Families Are Hoarding Cash</a>  CNBC   ...A new survey of family offices by Citi finds that the wealthy are cash heavy—meaning they may fall short of the investment returns they're expecting...<br /><a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/02/u-s-food-banks-struggle-to-meet-new-demand-caused-by-food-stamp-cuts/" rel="nofollow">U.S. food banks struggle to meet new demand caused by food stamp cuts</a>  Raw Story   ...37 million Americans were reliant on food banks to meet their nutritional needs in 2010, up from 25 million in 2006. The numbers have only grown through the recession brought on the deregulation of the financial markets and cuts to social programs...<br /><a href="http://angrybearblog.com/2013/11/another-congressman-and-stunning-subsidies-to-his-district.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Hzoh+%28angrybearblog.com%29" rel="nofollow">Another Congressman and stunning subsidies to his district</a>  Angry Bear   ...AB had a post on Congressman Steve King, an advocate of austerity and shut down yet received $9.17 billion in subsidies 1995-2012 for his district without offering cut backs for his district to share the sacrifices needed for austerity...<br /><a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/koch-brothers-harry-belafonte-ku-klux-klan-99282.html" rel="nofollow">Koch brothers slam Harry Belafonte’s Ku Klux Klan remark</a>  Politico   ...“Already we have lost 14 states in this union to the most corrupt group of citizens I’ve ever known,” Belafonte said at the First Corinthian Baptist Church, according to Capital New York. “They make up the heart and the thinking in the minds of those who would belong to the Ku Klux Klan. They are white supremacists...<br /><a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=10952" rel="nofollow">Colombian Farmers and Union Activists Under Attack</a>  The Real News   ...In Colombia terror is systematically used as a weapon for social oppression, violence against farmers and unions continues; and while President Santos allowed protests, there are still scars of Uribe government’s alleged violence and ties to paramilitary organizations...<br /><a href="http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2013/11/exclusive-govchristie-to-teacher-i-am.html" rel="nofollow">EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: @GovChristie to Teacher: "I Am Tired Of You People!"</a>  Jersey Jazzman   ...Is it not obvious that there has been an enormous amount of frustration and anger building up over Chris Christie's condescension toward teachers, parents, and students?...

austerity Chris Christie Colombia hunger inequality Kochs organizing OSHA workplace safety Today's Teamster News 11.04.13

OSHA Weaknesses Force Workers to Choose: Report Safety Violations, or Keep Their Jobs?  In These Times   ... the Occupational Safety and He...

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Trade deal didn't end anti-union violence in Colombia. What a shock.

Unionists are still being murdered, threatened and forced to work as temps in Colombia despite promises that an 'action plan' would prevent it, according to <a href="http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/sites/democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/files/documents/Colombia%20trip%20report%20-%2010.29.13%20-%20formatted%20-%20FINAL.pdf" rel="nofollow">a staff report</a> by U.S. Reps. <a href="http://georgemiller.house.gov/" rel="nofollow">George Miller</a> and <a href="http://mcgovern.house.gov/" rel="nofollow">Jim McGovern</a>.<br /><br />The action plan -- called the U.S.-Colombia Labor Action Plan (LAP) -- was created in <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/16737-the-horrific-costs-of-the-us-colombia-trade-agreement" rel="nofollow">April 2011 to give cover to U.S. politicians</a> who wanted to vote for the job-killing trade deal with Colombia, the most dangerous country in the world to be a union member.<br /><br />Ostensibly the LAP would correct violations of labor rights (like murder and violence) once the trade pact was implemented on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States%E2%80%93Colombia_Free_Trade_Agreement" rel="nofollow">May 15, 2012</a>. It didn't happen. Working conditions for most people in Colombia are worse than they were before the trade deal. (No surprise there.)<br /><br />The failure of the Colombian trade deal portends a similar outcome in Vietnam if the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is approved. <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/vietnam-allows-forced-child-labor.html" rel="nofollow">Vietnam, one of the Pacific Rim countries involved in TPP talks</a>, tolerates squalid working conditions, poverty wages and child slavery.<br /><br />Eleven Colombian union leaders were murdered last year. At least that's better than the 22 union leaders murdered with impunity the year before. But threats, assaults, and disappearances are reportedly on the rise, according to the report.<br /><br />Worse, violence is escalating against human rights workers. In the first six months of this year, 37 human rights defenders were murdered in Colombia and 153 were attacked.<br /><br />The so-called benefits of so-called free trade have not flowed to ordinary Colombians. Indigenous people are being thrown off their land. <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/16737-the-horrific-costs-of-the-us-colombia-trade-agreement" rel="nofollow">Farmers' livelihoods are threatened</a> by a surge of subsidized agricultural products from the United States. In the port city of Buenaventura, gruesome dismemberments and murders drove 9,000 poor people from their home. Misery and violence prevail.<br /><br />The two congressmen visited Colombia in August to see whether the action plan was working. They arrived in the middle of social unrest:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Colombian farmers took to the streets and went on strike, joined by miners, truckers, public health care workers, students and others. The reasons for the strike given by many included: high fuel prices, expensive agrichemicals, government neglect of rural areas, and the free trade agreement with the United States. </blockquote>They concluded the trade deal has made life worse for most Colombian workers:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">...individuals have been murdered in 2013 and death threats continue. Impunity is still a huge and unaddressed problem. Internationally recognized labor rights are not protected. And in the absence of an effective enforcement system and lax accountability, new forms of indirect hiring and phony unions are proliferating.</blockquote>A Latin American human rights group agreed with the congressmen. Said Gimena Sánche, senior associate with the <a href="http://www.wola.org/news/labor_rights_violations_persist_in_colombia" rel="nofollow">Washington Office on Latin America</a>:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">Basic labor protections, including the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining, continue to be violated on a national scale...</blockquote>Let's be honest: these so-called trade deals aren't about trade. They're about empowering corporations at the expense of workers around the globe. That's why no one should be surprised the Colombian 'action plan' didn't work. Or that the TPP, if passed, will not have happy consequences for workers. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

anti-union violence Colombia job killing trade deals TPP Trade deal didn't end anti-union violence in Colombia. What a shock.

Unionists are still being murdered, threatened and forced to work as temps in Colombia despite promises that an 'action plan' would ...

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200K strike against trade in Colombia as TPP fears mount

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zq3ujEx9r5I" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal">An astonishing <a href="http://ourfuture.org/20130826/big-columbia-strike-hilites-free-trade-fail">200,000 Colombian workers</a> have been on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23862007" rel="nofollow">strike for the past 10 days</a> against unfair trade, privatization and poverty. It's the latest sign that the world is awakening to the dangers of the latest job-killing trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).<br /><br />In Colombia, farmers, dairy workers, miners, health care workers and students are striking to protest falling living standards caused by trade. At the forefront are farmers, who warn that competition from subsidized U.S. agribusiness is plunging them into extreme poverty.<br /><br />The <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/19/3573362/colombias-summer-of-discontent.html" rel="nofollow">Miami Herald</a> reported: </div><blockquote class="tr_bq">The agrarian strike, as it’s known, is broad-based and far-flung. Coffee, cacao, potato and rice farmers have joined ranks with cargo truckers, gold miners and others. Teachers and labor unions are also joining in. Their demands are equally ample, calling for reduced fuel and fertilizer prices, the cancellation of free trade agreements, increased subsidies and the end of a crackdown on informal mining operations, among others.</blockquote>Dave Johnson, writing for the <a href="http://ourfuture.org/20130826/big-columbia-strike-hilites-free-trade-fail" rel="nofollow">Campaign for America’s Future</a>, notes the strike highlights the failure of the Colombian trade deal -- and serves as a warning about the TPP:<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">A huge new trade deal is coming up soon. This is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), called by some the “mother of all free-trade deals” and by others the “Corporate Deathstar.” It is a job-loss runaway train that is coming straight at us.</blockquote><a href="http://www.nationofchange.org/congress-public-waking-trans-pacific-partnership-threat-1377322701">Congress and the public are waking up</a> to the threat posed by the TPP, where talks are getting underway in Brunei with the U.S. and about a dozen Pacific Rim nations, including Vietnam. Earlier this week, <a href="http://teamster.org/" rel="nofollow">Teamsters</a>General President James P. Hoffa wrote to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman saying he wants to discuss Vietnam’s tolerance of worker abuse, including child slavery.<br /><br />Hoffa asked how the United States plans to proceed with trade talks in light of a recent Department of Labor finding that showed <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/08/vietnam-allows-forced-child-labor.html">solid evidence of child slavery</a> in Vietnam's garment factories, as well as <a href="http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/07/US-should-terminate-Vietnam-TPP-talks.html">a report that detailed abhorrent working conditions</a>. Hoffa wrote that a letter sent by <a href="http://georgemiller.house.gov/" rel="nofollow">Rep. GeorgeMiller</a> to Froman last month raised many issues that need to be answered:<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">I take this opportunity to echo [Miller’s] good questions and support his request for you to describe what specific steps the Administration is prepared to take to ensure that Vietnam can comply with the basic labor rights that we take for granted in the U.S.</blockquote>Hoffa also noted reports that showed the U.S. trade deficit during the first half of 2013 fell from $227 billion to $225 billion, a good sign for working Americans. But he added that the Teamsters and others are concerned that enactment of the TPP could reverse that trend.<br /><br />Maybe the message is starting to sink in. Froman said late last week that <a href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11113806">the U.S. would not be pushed into completing the trade pact</a> until it is satisfied with the deal:<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></div><blockquote class="tr_bq">We are not rushing into an agreement to meet any particular deadline.</blockquote>An <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ExposeTPPCanada" rel="nofollow">anti-TPP rally is planned in Montreal</a> tomorrow, and American labor unions are urging their members to write their representative in Congress to oppose the deal. The TPP will pass unless YOU act now. Just click <a href="http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/50740/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8906" rel="nofollow">here</a> to send an email.<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>

Colombia Hoffa TPP trade 200K strike against trade in Colombia as TPP fears mount

An astonishing  200,000 Colombian workers  have been on strike for the past 10 days against unfair trade, privatization and poverty. It'...

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