BELGIUM: 213 trade unionists assassinated worldwide. Venezuela, Next!

Green LeftBY SUE BOLTON

Of the 213 trade unionists assassinated around the world last year, 184 were murdered in Colombia, according to the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).

On June 10, the ICFTU released its Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights Violations in 133 countries. The survey documents violence, murder, disappearances and intimidation of unionists, legislative restrictions on the formation of trade unions and union activity, exploitation in export processing zones and discrimination against migrant workers.

Eight countries in Latin America accounted for 206 of the murders. Hundreds more unionists in Latin America received death threats, disappeared, received severe beatings or were sacked — the highest total for any region in the world.

The Colombian government, which receives massive amounts of aid from the United States, tries to wash its hands of responsibility for the violence against trade unionists by claiming that it is a direct consequence of the civil war.

However, the ICFTU report points out that the Colombian state not only fails to prevent such crimes but also fails to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice. None of the investigations of attempts on trade unionists' lives in 2002 have resulted in the sentencing of those responsible.

Numerous investigations opened in previous years have been deliberately suspended, dismissed or blocked by an “inhibitory decision” whereby the case is closed before those responsible are found.

The report notes that the United States denies 40% of public sector workers basic collective bargaining rights. At the national level, only postal workers enjoy such rights. Some 2 million employees of the federal government are governed by legislation which outlaws strikes and proscribes collective bargaining over hours, wages and economic benefits. Most state public sector workers are also prohibited from taking strike action.

However, one glaring omission in the section on the US is any mention of restrictions on union activity under the guise of “anti-terrorism” laws such as the Homeland Security Act. The report also fails to mention the massive round-up of 13,000 immigrant workers of south Asian or Middle Eastern background, who have been detained for many months without any charge and are now threatened with deportation.

This omission, plus the sections on Venezuela and Cuba, indicate that the ICFTU is still politically blinkered by its origins as a Cold War organisation. The ICFTU was formed in 1949 when a number of anti-communist unions split from the World Federation of Trade Unions.

Venezuela is condemned by the ICFTU report which unquestioningly recounts the viewpoint of the corrupt Workers Confederation of Venezuela (CTV), an organisation discredited in the eyes of the majority of workers for its involvement in the unsuccessful April 2002 business-backed military coup against the left-wing government of President Hugo Chavez.

CTV president Carlos Ortega endorsed two general “strikes” called by the big employers' organisation, Fedecamaras. In both cases, most Venezuelan trade unionists described the “strikes” as lock outs by the bosses and opposed them.

During his 48 hours in power, Fedecamaras leader Pedro Camona ordered the police to raid the offices of trade unions opposed to the coup, and abolished the parliament, the constitution and 49 laws that benefitted unwaged and low-waged workers. Camona's supporters also shot at and killed unarmed civilian demonstrators who opposed the coup.

Since March 2003, 2500 out of 3000 trade unions have left the CTV to join the new national union federation, Fuerza Bolivariana de Trabajadores (FBT). Only 20% of the work force is covered by the CTV compared with 50% by the FBT.

Cuba is also condemned in the ICFTU report for not allowing “independent” unions to exist, and for arresting “independent trade unionists”.

In a letter sent in April to the French CGT trade union federation, Pedro Ross Leal, secretary-general of Cuba's CTC trade union federation, responded to similar criticisms. He disputed claims anyone in Cuba has been arrested for belonging to an independent labour organisation. “A labour union cannot be said to exist if it is not elected by the workers and if it does not have affiliates”, he noted.

The “independent unionists” who were among 75 opponents of the Cuban Revolution arrested and jailed in early April, were not elected by any Cuban workers. Furthermore, they had received money and equipment from the US Interests Section, Washington's unofficial embassy in Havana, with the aim of assisting the US economic war against the Cuban workers' state.

Since the rabidly anti-labour gang headed by former oil bosses George Bush junior and Dick Cheney took over the White House, the US has invaded Afghanistan and Iraq. The Bush-Cheney gang has abandoned any respect for the right of countries to sovereignty and independence by adopting a policy of “pre-emptive” strikes against governments it is hostile to.

Is it any wonder then that the Cuban government would regard organisations that are funded and organised by Washington as provocative threats to the existence of the Cuban Revolution?

From Green Left Weekly, June 25, 2003. Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.