Colombia

Letter sent by Rel-UITA to President Uribe

 

 

Regional Latinoamericana
Unión Internacional de Trabajadores de la Alimentación,
Agrícolas, Hoteles, Restaurantes, Tabaco y Afines (Rel-UITA)


   

Comité
Ejecutivo
Latinoamericano:


Presidente
Argentino Geneiro
UTHGRA
Argentina

Vicepresidenta
Neuza Barbosa
CNTA
Brasil

Carolina Llanos
UATRE
Argentina

Héctor Ponce
ATILRA
Argentina

Silvia Villaverde
FAOPCHPYA
Argentina

Alberto Broch
CONTAG
Brasil

Siderlei de Oliveira
CONTAC
Brasil

Luis A. Pedraza
UNAC
Colombia

Guillermo Rivera
SINTRAINAGRO
Colombia

Edwin Ranchos
FESTRAS
Guatemala

Gerardo Iglesias
Secretario Regional

 

Montevideo, 03 September 2009
 

Mr. President of Colombia
Dr. Álvaro Uribe
Palacio de Nariño
Bogota – Colombia       

Dear Sir,

Our International Organization wishes to let you know our deep concern and contempt for the anti-union situation in the Doña Francia, Santamaría del Monte and El Chispero plantations, all of them owned by JAIME ALBERTO ORTIZ FRANCO.

This entrepreneur has also been trying to ignore the agreements of the last COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT subscribed by and between SINTRAINAGRO and the Bargaining Committee appointed by the corporate members of AUGURA on May 29 last.

The IUF and a significant number of banana company owners of Urabá are discussing the implementation of "Social Quality Labelling" as an acknowledgment that the banana production of this region is carried out under “Decent Work” conditions and to let consumers know that all workers are covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Our proposal is to make a difference between this production and that of other Latin American regions where most workers are not unionized and lack the social and economic benefits of a Collective Agreement.

The complex situation in the plantations belonging to Mr. JAIME ALBERTO ORTIZ FRANCO ruins years of work to build a social dialogue in labor relations in the region, held up as a model by the International Labor Organization (ILO) itself.

This is why the situation in the plantations of JAIME ALBERTO ORTIZ FRANCO is a concern for us and we cannot let him damage --with his anti-union and anti-democratic attitude-- the image and potential of Uraba bananas abroad.

The IUF wishes to keep supporting the certification of fruits from Uraba and deepen social development resulting from constructive and sensitive dialogue between the Union and most company owners.

Mr Presidente, the IUF requests your prompt action so that the anti-union policies of ORTIZ FRANCO do not prosper, since they are an attack to the good faith and the scope of the COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT IN FORCE.  Thus we will be able to go on working smoothly to favor the welfare of all long suffering inhabitants of Urabá.

Yours sincerely,

Gerardo Iglesias
IUF Regional Secretary
 

 

c/c

Ministry of Social Protection | ILO | CUT | IUF - Geneva | AUGURA | UNAC | SINTRAINAGRO

 

  

Wilson Ferreira Aldunate 1229 Ofic. 201, Montevideo, Uruguay

Phone: (5982) 9007473 - 9021048 / Fax: 9030905  -  uita@rel-uita.org

Rel-UITA

                  3 September 2009

 

 

 

 

Más Información

 

 

  UITA - Secretaría Regional Latinoamericana - Montevideo - Uruguay

Wilson Ferreira Aldunate 1229 / 201 - Tel. (598 2) 900 7473 -  902 1048 -  Fax 903 0905