WASHINGTON, DC - Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today released the following statement after the AFL-CIO and four Colombian unions filed a petition alleging that Colombia is not satisfying its labor obligations under the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement:
“After five years, Colombia is not implementing its obligations under the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, including provisions spelled out in the Labor Action Plan. Colombia does not have in place an adequate structure - through its laws, regulations, or practices - to ensure that the rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining are upheld.
“The rights of workers are being thwarted through indirect employment, preventing workers from exercising their labor rights through the use of instrumentalities to avoid direct employment protections with worker rights under law. That was clear during my trips to Colombia during the negotiations. As a result, the Labor Action Plan - which specifically called for Colombia to ‘prohibit the misuse of cooperatives or any other kind of relationship that affects labor rights’ - is being violated as cooperatives have been replaced with other forms of indirect employment, leaving the multitude of workers basically in the same position as before the Labor Action Plan.
“Impunity for violations of worker rights remains rampant. Threats against labor leaders continue in large numbers and there have been no convictions since 2011. This is not surprising since the Prosecutor General told me when I was last in Colombia that he was focused on still another restructuring of the office, rather than on specific cases. There have been few convictions of the 130 labor-related homicides since 2011.
“Finally, as indicated in today’s Petition filed by the AFL-CIO and four Colombian unions, the system of fines for violations of worker rights remains deeply flawed. Most fines remain uncollected.
“Agreements must be tested by their language and by the realities on the ground. Nothing else will suffice."
The Congressional Colombia Monitoring Group will be meeting tomorrow with the AFL-CIO, Colombian union representatives, and Colombian labor experts to discuss the Petition.
