One solution for addressing poverty at home and abroad is organizing. On Thursday, two labor organizers from Colombia will speak in Rochester. We received the following notice for the Union Worker Struggles in Colombia event from Russell Hess, President, SE MN Central Labor Council:
WHEN: Thursday, March 20th
Program starts at 6:00 p.m.
WHERE: Christ United Methodist Church
400 5th St. SW Rochester, MN
Gerardo Cajamarca works with the United Steelworkers through their Associate Member Program. He dedicates his time to education on Global Justice, worker and human rights, Plan Colombia, Free Trade, and immigration. He has assisted in organizing workers at Tyson Meatpacking in Garden City, Kansas and the boycott against Western Union. He is part of the International Mission of SINALTRAINAL. In Colombia Gerardo investigated human rights violations for SINALTRAINAL, the union at the forefront of the struggle of Coca-Cola and NESTLE workers. In 2004, he sought asylum in the US after receiving death threats.
Edgar Paez is part of the international mission of SINALTRAINAL (National Food Industry Workers Union) in Colombia. Paez has dedicated his entire life to organizing workers and has worked actively in connecting social struggles both in Colombia and the world over. Paez is a member of the Operating Committee for the Social Observatory of transnational businesses, megaprojects, human rights and the Permanent Tribunal of the Pueblos Sesión, Colombia.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact Alicia Ranney (612) 578 – 8266
Russell Hess, (507) 261-6546
In January, Gerardo Cajamarca wrote about the Colombia he knows at the Huffington Post. More here in the Miami Herald about his work to educate people about Colombia and free trade agreements.
People in Rochester seem interested in the fate of Colombia. In an earlier (and separate) event, two Colombian Army officers drew a diverse crowd to an event at the city's public library, noted Andrea Villarraga, a sophomore at Lourdes High School, in a column published today.
More on the Rochester event from Workday Minnesota: Colombian unionist to speak in Minneapolis, Rochester. For additional background, see the March 12 press release, Change to Win Urges Congress to Reject Colombia Free Trade Agreement:
Change to Win released a print ad today demanding the United States Congress reject the Colombia Free Trade Agreement deal that the Bush administration is threatening to send to Congress in the coming weeks despite strong opposition.
"American workers are sick of job-destroying trade deals that benefit multinational corporations," said Bruce Raynor, General President of UNITE HERE. "A trade deal with Colombia is particularly outrageous because workers seeking to form unions there face brutal oppression and even murder. We are proud to stand with human rights activists, religious groups, unions and workers in Colombia in opposing the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement."
Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for union members. More than 2,200 workers have been murdered by Colombian death squads for trying to form unions since the 1980s, and there have been more than 400 murders since President Uribe took office five years ago. Yet the Colombian government has done nothing to effectively stop death squads from murdering workers for trying to form unions.
Trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA, and others have primarily benefited multinational corporations and the world's elite, at the expense of jobs and decent wages for working families, not only in America, but throughout the world. The proposed "free" trade deals perpetuate a discredited trade model that hurts U.S. workers, destroys jobs, and lowers living standards for workers here and in many trade partner countries where independent labor unions are restricted or outlawed. . . .
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