Failure of Labor Action Plan in Colombia Holds Lessons for Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement Negotiations, Says Congressional Report
WASHINGTON – Weak enforcement of existing labor laws and continued violence against labor leaders in Colombia more than a year after the implementation of the U.S.-Colombia Labor Action Plan should offer important lessons of what not to do in future trade agreements, concluded a report issued today by Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and James McGovern (D-Mass.). Miller and McGovern, who are members of the Congressional Monitoring Group on Labor Rights in Colombia, visited the country in August and had an opportunity to examine the implementation of the Labor Action Plan and its impact on the ground.
“Despite the [Labor Action Plan], murders and threats against union members and harmful subcontracting [that deny the right to organize] persist in Colombia largely unabated,” the report said. “[R]eports of worsening labor rights conditions in Colombia provide an important lesson when developing trade policy. The fact that the LAP has not resulted in improving working conditions [on the ground] in Colombia merits attention especially in the context of current negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership [trade agreement].”
Developed in parallel with the US-Colombia trade agreement, Presidents Barack Obama and Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia launched the Labor Action Plan between Colombia and the U.S. in April 2011 promising improved worker rights while paving the way for a vote on the long-pending trade agreement. The plan was intended to provide a road map for Colombia to protect internationally recognized labor rights, prevent violence against labor leaders, and prosecute the perpetrators of such violence.
However, Miller and McGovern found continued widespread threats of violence and cases of actual violence against labor union members and leaders, and continued practices of suppressing unionization, despite additional protections passed into law by the Colombian government.
“The members of the delegation conclude that the Government of Colombia is woefully falling short of compliance with the Labor Action Plan, and in many cases, these shortfalls have made working conditions for workers worse than before it came into effect,” the report said. “Before asking Congress to approve another trade agreement, such as the TPP, which poses similar labor and human rights issues, the Administration must first demonstrate concrete and effective improvements in workers’ rights on the ground in Colombia under the Labor Action Plan.”
Miller and McGovern made a number of recommendations to both the U.S. and Colombian governments in order for the Labor Action Plan to live up to its promise of improve conditions on the ground for Colombian workers that guarantees the free exercise of workers’ labor rights.
Next Article