Apr 18, 2017 - labor law and international labor standards yesterday, April 17th, 2017. The latest ... impossible for th
~casc .,
~.
;
.
.
.
.
Tel:50J-475-1019
www.pease.net
portland central america solidarity committee 2249 E. Burnside St., Portland, Oregon 97214
April 18, 2017
us. Congressional
Representatives James McGovern, Keith Ellison, Mark Pocan, Rosa DeLauro, Sander Levin, Nancy Pelosi, Hank Johnson, and Earl Blumenauer US. Senator Jeff Merkley Colombian Senators Alberto Castilla, Jorge Robledo, and Ivan Cepeda Colombian Congressional Representative Victor Correa RE: Continued violation of fundamental labor rights by General Motors Corporation in Bogota, Colombia demonstrates failure ofthe Labor Action Plan of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement
Warm greetings, We are writing to inform you that General Motors' Colombian subsidiary once again violated Colombian labor law and international labor standards yesterday, April 17th, 2017. The latest violation was the dismissal of 12 injured workers who GM had originally dismissed unlawfully in July of 2016 and who had been reinstated in December of 2016 by court order. Yesterday's dismissal was unlawful, given the fact that Colombian law states that companies must receive authorization from the Ministry of Labor to dismiss injured workers in Colombia, authorization that General Motors did not have. In addition, General Motors used the dismissal of these 12 workers, most of whom belong to the newest union in the plant, to lower the number of affiliated members of the union in an attempt to bring it below the minimum number required for a union to receive legal recognition. Thus, through a dismissal that went against a judge's order, which targeted injured workers belonging to a protected class, which is unlawful without authorization that the company did not have, GM set the groundwork to extinguish a union. This violation is the latest in a continual attack on workers being carried out at the Colombia GM plant. In our estimation, of all the labor rights issues in Colombia, the injured Colombian General Motors workers case, particularly the specific example of ASOTRECOL, the injured workers who have been camped in front of the US. Embassy, demonstrates the failure of the Labor Action Plan of the US.Colombia Free Trade Agreement more clearly than any other. This is an example where the labor violations are egregious and clear-cut: the workers were told at hire that they could not join a union, that they had to join the company-controlled collective pact; they were exposed to unsafe working conditions known to cause permanent disability; when they became disabled they were targeted for dismissal and experienced labor harassment; the injured workers were unlawfully dismissed in violation of Colombian labor law. These practices are widespread in Colombia and are precisely what the Labor Action Plan was attempting to improve when it guaranteed that workers' rights would be respected. But what makes ASOTRECOL's case unique is that it was challenging labor abuses carried out by General Motors, the Page 1 of 3
same General Motors that U.S. taxpayers bailed out. There is no other case like it. These workers are challenging labor abuses that violate the guarantees that the U.S. government negotiated through the Labor Action Plan, however even though the U.S. government was the majority shareholder controlling the offending company, the workers still could not get GM to comply with Colombian law and international labor standards. Given this reality, what hope do other Colombian workers have that their rights will be respected? Over 5 years later, ASOTRECOL is still camped in front of the U.S. Embassy. GM has done very little to resolve this labor conflict. The U.S. government has washed its hands of ensuring that the promised labor rights are protected or even in ensuring that U.S. businesses themselves are not the perpetrators. The injured workers who formed ASOTRECOL and camped in front of the U.S. Embassy in Bogota were the whistleblowers who brought visibility to the sweatshop conditions inside the plant. In addition to the permanent injuries that the members of ASOTRECOL face, their cases are characterized by illegal dismissals just like the one that took place yesterday, as well as altered medical records which made it impossible for them to qualify for the healthcare benefits that they need. Until the handful of workers still part of ASOTRECOL receive a settlement from the company which allows them to continue their lives post-GM, we will continue to consider GM's violations of these workers' rights to be a daily occurrence. We fmd it important to mention that yesterday's violation was carried out by Fernando Rojas, director of labor relations at the Colombia GM facility. Fernando Rojas was also behind the dismissals of these workers in July of 2016 (along with 25-30 additional injured workers). We have continually denounced his actions; his targeting ofinjured workers, threats and intimidation tactics, union-busting and willingness to break the law. As we have expressed many times before, both to governmental and company officials, we expect to continue to see these types ofhurnan rights violations as long as Fernando Rojas is employed by GM. It is astounding to us that GM continues to tolerate his unethical practices despite the prevalence of evidence that he is causing problems for the company. To our knowledge, more than 100 injured workers have been dismissed from GM Colombia in the last two years alone all through his office. Many of these dismissed workers have been reinstated through court orders because the dismissal was illegal. We ask that the government officials named at the top of this letter continue to monitor GM's actions related to injured workers from its Colombia plant. Of all the labor rights issues in Colombia, this particular case demonstrates the failure of the Labor Action Plan of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement to an extent that other cases carmot show because the U.S. government did not hold majority shares in those enterprises. We ask that the two company officials named at the bottom of this letter take immediate action to resolve the situation of ASOTRECOL, to reinstate the twelve workers dismissed yesterday and to replace Fernando Rojas with someone willing to abide by Colombian law and international labor standards. We ask the Colombian Ministry of Labor to continue investigations into dismissals initiated by Fernando Rojas and into the reasons that members of ASOTRECOL have not gotten justice in their case through the Ministry of Labor. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this letter.
Sincerely,
Pa6
