37^th Meeting of the Latin American Executive Committee of the IUF

Rivera, president of  SINTRAINAGRO, delivered heart-felt words evoking memory and a fighting spirit. He closed the meeting of the Latin American Executive Committee on a high note, remarkable both because of what he said and how he said it. He recalled when the region of Urabá was the most dangerous corner in the world, when hundreds of banana laborers were massacred in the crossfire between illegal armed groups. He described the significance and scope of the International Campaign carried out by the IUF in 1996, at a time when the smell of gunpowder was commonplace and civilians were the main target of the military. Lastly, he called attention to the new challenges that the defense of Urabá poses today, a defense that must be guided by all of civil society working together. The following are the words of our fellow trade unionist Rivera.

“I would like to thank all of you for being here today, for having traveled so far and crossed so many borders to come to Colombia. I take your effort as a true gesture of solidary, which is very valuable, especially when the country is undergoing such a difficult time as this. You have already had an opportunity to hear several assessments of the current situation in Colombia, where we will have to keep on fighting with all our strength to defend the labor movement.

SINTRAINAGRO has never once backed away from any of the major problems we’ve had to face, even in the hardest of times, times in which we risked our lives…  and in which we lost many of our fellow unionists.

We won’t forget how things were, just as we’ll never forget the IUF family and the great solidarity it extended to us. When we thought we would not be able to face the blows we were receiving from several fronts –from business, the government, paramilitary groups, the FARC guerrilla–, we found we could rely on the support of the IUF, even though we weren’t even affiliates yet. That solidarity made us strong, we felt that we were not alone, that there was a lot of people who were well aware of our suffering.

Today I feel proud to be an IUF leader, to be a member of its Latin American Executive Committee, but I feel even prouder because I have your support and solidarity and the support and solidarity of organizations like the ones you represent in countries across Latin America and the world.

You’ve heard here what fellow unionists from United Workers Federation had to say, for example, on the situation of oil workers: 35,000 workers in precarious employment situations. There are only 6,000 workers in the oil sector with a permanent employment contract, and just 2,700 are covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement. In COPETROL’s last negotiation it agreed to five years without wage increases. What does this mean? That they did away with an organization that was historical in Colombia.

I would like to thank our fellow unionist Gerardo Iglesias, for his relentless struggle. I’d like to express my appreciation for his commitment and dedication. We first met during one of Urabá’s most difficult times, and I’ll never forget that moment. We got together one day in Bogotá and he told me about his first trip to our region. I was returning from Geneva, Switzerland, where I had traveled to sign a Cooperation Agreement with the IUF and Luis Anderson, who was general secretary of ORIT at the time.

And what we asked ourselves then was: ‘What should we do?’ And we decided we would build a school in Barrio Obrero. Barrio Obrero was an area where 25,000 banana workers had relocated to after they were displaced from their homes in the banana plantations. On March 23, 1994, the FARC slaughtered 35 people there.

And again, thanks to the international solidarity of the IUF and the General Workers’ Confederation of Spain (UGT) we were able to build our school, where today more than 3,500 children are attending primary and secondary education.

This school is the best school in all of Urabá, and it’s right there, in Barrio Obrero, and the IUF is there too.

These children and these people will never forget the IUF or SINTRAINAGRO.

What a pleasure it is today to be able to remember it in such different circumstances! And I want to tell you that I feel even prouder to see this gesture of yours, coming here to Colombia, when it would have been much easier for you to go to another country. Believe me when I say that we will share this meeting with our workers so that we can continue encouraging them and giving them the strength they need to move forward.

We feel very hopeful now with Angelino Garzón as national vice president. When he was Labor Minister he did not forget SINTRAINAGRO; he was always ready to help us and give us a hand at each and every negotiation for our collective bargaining agreement. Now, as Vice President of the Republic, he continues to support us. A few days ago, banana company representatives asked Garzón to help them put off for two years the negotiations for the agreement, which are due to begin next year. As the state does not subsidize these companies, they think they are entitled to be subsidized by freezing our salaries for two years through delays in the negotiations.

In a joint meeting with SINTRAINAGRO and company representatives, Angelino Garzón stated that Urabá’s problem is not wages. ‘In Urabá we need to discuss far more important matters that are not solved by denying workers a pound of rice,’ he told them.

And he went on to say that, ‘There’s work to do in Urabá, and I propose a working agenda so that we can start discussing social, safety, housing, education, health, transportation and other issues'… Angelino Garzón suggested that within a month they set up a Working Group that will be headed by him and will include company representatives and SINTRAINAGRO. And yesterday, when he visited our region, he told us that he wanted the IUF there, because everyone in Urabá knows full well the role the organization played in building peace in the region.

My fellow workers, I’d like to finish by thanking you again for your presence here, and for your support, and I want you to know that we value your solidarity enormously and that we know we can never repay you enough. Thank you very much.”