On Thursday, June 2, Guillermo Rivera, president of the National Union of Agroindustry Workers (SINTRAINAGRO), held a very productive meeting with Roberto Hoyos Ruiz, head of the banana producers’ association (AUGURA), with the aim of examining the outcome of the most recent collective bargaining process and the challenges ahead in terms of consolidating and expanding decent work. IUF Latin America (Rel-UITA) was also invited to participate in the discussion.

 

When it comes to labor conditions, the banana sector in the Colombian region of Urabá looks like something transplanted from another country: it has a union density of more than 90 percent, full coverage under collective bargaining agreements, employment through direct contracts for the vast majority of the workforce, and a mechanism whereby collective bargaining has contributed to further social dialogue towards the consolidation of decent work.

 

Urabá was one of the most violent regions in the country in the 1990s, when the country was besieged by violence. During that period, illegal armed groups set out to destroy trade unions in the region. This brutal attack on trade unions has led Guillermo Rivera to declare on more than one occasion, “We had to concentrate entirely on saving our own lives and the union; we couldn’t deal with anything else.”

 

Things are very different now, and the union has assumed a major role not just among workers, but also in society. “Today, it’s not just banana workers who come to SINTRAINAGRO with their problems and concerns; banana producer, small merchants and people in general are coming to us now too.”

 

“We also provide training in our offices for women heads of household who, through an agreement with AUGURA, will supply work clothes for all the sector’s workers.”

 

On June 3, the Second Forum on Urabá was held in Medellín, with the participation of the agriculture, transportation and housing ministers, as well as Colombia’s vice president, mayors from the region, agricultural producers and cattle ranchers. The activity was convened and organized by Rel-UITA, AUGURA and SINTRAINAGRO.

 

AUGURA president Roberto Hoyos stressed the importance of these forums as “an opportunity to communicate all the positive results that have been achieved through our efforts with labor, and to jointly address the government and present our view of the different problems faced by the region.”