GM AGREES TO MEET WITH INJURED WORKERS IN COLOMBIA According to Colombian authorities, General Motors headquarters in Detroit, Michigan has agreed to negotiate with a group of sick and injured workers who were fired from a GM assembly plant on the outskirts of Bogotá. The workers of ASOTRECOL, the Association of Sick and Injured Former Workers of GM Colmotores, have been living in tents outside Colombia’s U.S. Embassy since August 2, 2011. One week ago, on August 13th, representatives of Bogota’s Human Rights office and the city’s Metropolitan Police signed a joint statement with Jorge Parra, President of ASOTRECOL (see attached) affirming that they had “spoken with a representative of General Motors in Detroit” who confirmed that a GM team would “arrive for a mediation” in Bogotá on Thursday, August 22nd. The agreement was signed by Esmeralda Caro Gómez and one other representative of the city’s Human Rights office (Personería de Bogotá) along with Carlos Medéndez of the Metropolitan Police. The document was part of a deal for ASOTRECOL to suspend a “crucifixion” protest action initiated that day in front of the Embassy, in which injured worker Carlos Trujillo had been tied to a cross to dramatize the suffering of the workers and their families. In the agreement Parra expresses his gratitude on behalf of the injured and fired workers, “for the good intentions demonstrated by the human rights office and the Bogotá metropolitan police in search of a solution to our labor situation.” This mediation will be the second attempt. One year ago, in response to a 22-day hunger strike by the ASOTRECOL workers, GM Global Headquarters sent a team of negotiators to engage in a mediation under the auspices of the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). But, as retired U.S. GM autoworker and former UAW-GM International Representative Frank Hammer notes, GM’s “final offer” to the workers “did not include reinstatement as required by Colombian law, or adequate compensation for the injuries the workers suffered. The company’s final compensation proposal of around $30,000 per worker would not even have covered the workers’ medical expenses.” Though the FMCS praised the effort and encouraged “all concerned to continue on the path established,” GM has steadfastly refused—until now. The announcement by the Bogotá, Colombia, authorities of GM’s commitment to return to mediation is an important breakthrough. Efforts by ASOTRECOL to get the Colombian Labor Ministry to enforce their rights have been thwarted by the illegal acts of Ministry officials, one of whom was fired, tried, and convicted to a six-year prison term. Though the Labor Ministry was forced to rescind its prior dismissals of the workers’ claims and even ordered a new investigation, it continues to stand in the way of enforcing Colombian law against GM’s documented falsification of company medical records and illegal discharge of workers injured on the job. The U.S. Embassy has claimed it has no power to bring GM to the table, even though it represents the U.S. government, which still holds a large share of GM stock following the 2009 bankruptcy bailout. In meetings with a recent U.S. delegation, an Embassy official admitted that GM Colmotores’ practices were in violation of the “Labor Action Plan” passed by U.S. Congress in tandem with the Colombia Free-Trade Agreement Colombia in 2011, but that there was no way to enforce its protections. Instead, on August 13, the Embassy tried to get the Colombian authorities to forcibly evict the workers from their tent encampment. U.S. supporters of ASOTRECOL, who have been providing material and moral support to the injured and fired GM Colmotores workers, will remain vigilant until the mediation process reaches a satisfactory conclusion and the workers and their families can dismantle their encampment, now into its 750th day.
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 18:56:55 +0000
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