National LCLAA 2008 National Membership Convention

5. RESOLUTION: IN SUPPORT OF PROTECTING TRADE UNIONISTS

AND OPOSSING THE FREE TRADE AGREEMENT BETWEEN

THE UNITED STATES AND COLOMBIA

WHEREAS: LCLAA is composed by Latino/a workers of the multicultural American Nation and it supports

the premise that any the Free Trade Agreement US-Colombia must increase the living standards of workers in

America and Colombia and that the right to union representation must be a democratic right for workers in both

countries;

WHEREAS: the North American Free Trade Agreement-NAFTA primarily benefits multinational corporations

at the expense of democratic principles and economic justice for working families, family farmers, and

domestic producers around the globe, and the environment and public health;

WHEREAS: Important discussions are currently taking place in the U.S Congress to bring up Free Trade

Agreements-FTA with Colombia. Also, this agreement was and will be part of the national debate between

presidential candidates. These agreements, open the door for subsequent harmful trade policies, that

resemble NAFTA/CAFTA ­ trade deals that have led to the loss more than a million of good jobs at home

and it included close to 50,000 in NYC, a surge in undocumented immigration, a soaring trade deficit,

declining real wages, and a deterioration of labor standards.

WHEREAS: Colombia is currently (May 2008) the most dangerous country in the world for trade unionists.

That according to the Escuela Nacional Sindical (ENS); a highly regarded labor institute based in Medellin,

Colombia, 2,574 union officers and rank-and-file members have been brutally and systematically murdered

since 1991. Most of these trade unionists were murdered because they were exercising their basic labor rights,

such as bargaining collectively or organizing a strike, from 2002, 500 trade unionists were killed.

WHEREAS: the reduction of the rights and benefits of workers are to the point that gains of the last century

are disappearing; and the work day was extended from 6am to 6pm to 10pm and only a tiny percentage of

workers reach the legal requirement to obtain their pension. In this way, the new labor laws make privatizations

easier by creating enormous and vast profits for national and foreign corporations.

WHEREAS: the three National Unions in Colombia stated (CUT, CGT, and CTC) also the confederation of

pensioners (CPC): despite differences of opinions, all four of these major confederations are unanimous in their

opposition to the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

WHEREAS: Undoubtedly in regards to Colombia, no labor chapter in the Free Trade Agreement, no matter

how well crafted, will be sufficient to reduce, much less end, the incidence of the most extreme violations of the

right to free association and collective bargaining.

WHEREAS: the Colombian government maintains anti-labor policies in the public sector and refuses to

recognize the right to collective negotiation of more than half a million public employees in clear violation of

the Colombian Constitution, Colombia labor laws and International Labor Organization agreements.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: that LCLAA at a national level promote support for our Colombian

brothers and sisters call upon Congressional representatives to oppose any Free Trade Agreement between the

US with Colombia; and that LCLAA promote a fair immigration reform given the fact that the massive