Winter Updates

March 2007: Payments to Colombia's paramilitary and guerilla groups, while not anti-union, underscore need to defeat trade agreement with Colombia.

March 9, 2007:  The number of trade unionists murdered in 2006 rose slightly over the previous year, according to a report released today by the leading non-governmental organization on labor issues in Colombia.

The report documents 72 trade unionists murdered in Colombia in 2006, up from the 70 murdered in 2005. Once again, more trade unionists were murdered in Colombia than in the rest of the world combined. The report, from the Escuela Nacional Sindical, is not yet available on the web.

Report Released Blasting Colombian Flower Conditions

February 2007: Worker rights groups today released Valentine’s Day Report: Worker Justice and Basic Rights on Flower Plantations in Colombia and Ecuador, finding that flower workers in the region earn poverty-level wages, labor long hours, and suffer significant health problems due to over-exposure to harmful pesticides. The release of the report follows on the heels of a mass firing on Dole's Splendor Flowers Plantation. Read the full report here or the press release here. Take Action here!

Workers Report Anti-Union Behavior Leading Up to Closure 

February 2007: On Thursday February 22nd, 2007, the BJ&B hat factory, which sells to Nike and Adidas, closed down without warning, turning away workers when they arrived to work.

February 2007: The renewal of this controversial funding, the majority of which would go to the Colombian military, is being critiqued as "more of the same" by the Latin America Working Group. Read a commentary and a detailed breakdown of the funding request on Adam Isaacson's blog.

February 2007: Pedro Zamora, General Secretary of STEPQ, the Sindicato de Trabajadores de la Empresa Portuaria Quetzal, was gunned down 50 meters from his home in Las Morenas village of Puerto Iztapa, on Monday January 15, 2007.

January 2007: Citing poor labor provisions and the continuing situation of violence against trade unionists, Colombia's largest trade union centrals recently issued a letter to the United States Congress, denouncing the trade agreement between the two countries. Read the full text of the letter in Spanish or in English.