Secretary Rice's Meeting with Colombian Pro-FTA

UNCLAS PARTO 020504

(Note: the unique message record number (MRN) has been modified. The original MRN was 08 PARTO 000006, which duplicates a previous PARTO telegram number.)

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT. PLEASE PASS TO USTR, AARON ROSENBERG, AND BENNETT
HARMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OVIP RICE CONDOLEEZZA ETRD ECIN EINV ELAB
PGOV, PHUM, PREL, PETER, VE, CO
SUBJECT: Secretary Rice's Meeting with Colombian Pro-FTA
Labor Leaders



1. (U) January 25, 2008; 8:15 a.m.; Medellin, Colombia.


2. (SBU) Participants:

United States
The Secretary
Ambassador William R. Brownfield
Representative Melissa Bean
Representative Eliot Engel
Representative Jane Harman
Representative Alcee Hastings
Representative Ron Klein
Representative Rick Larsen
Representative Solomon Ortiz
Representative Ed Perlmutter
Representative David Scott
A/S Jeffrey Bergner, H
A/S Sean McCormack, PA
A/S Thomas Shannon, WHA
A/S Daniel Sullivan, EEB
S Chief of Staff Brian Gunderson
Director of House Affairs Scott Kamins
Deputy Executive Secretary Kevin Whitaker
Adam Lenert, Embassy Notetaker

COLOMBIA
Javier Ramrez Cordoba, President, IMUSA Workers' Union
Walter David Navarro Giraldo, President, Public
Professionals of Medellin Union
Luis German Restrepo Maldonado, President of the Packing
Company Union
Luis Fernando Cadavid Mesa, President of the Textile
Workers' Union of Antioquia
Jose Gustavo Palacio Moreno, Regional President, Mining
and Energy Workers' Union Sintramienergetica
Enrique Albeiro Franco Valderrama, Vice President of the
National Union of Fruit Industry, Agro-industrial and
Fishing Workers
Gerardo de Jesus Sanchez Zapata, President of the Textile
Workers' Union of Rio Negro
Libardo de Jes"s Botero Campuzano, Union Advisor, First
Thought Foundation of Colombia
Antonio Lopez Lebrun, Mining Union Advisor
Carlos Sierra, Union Advisor, First Thought Foundation of
Colombia


3. (SBU) SUMMARY. Union leaders from several of
Colombia's export-oriented economic sectors said their


members would benefit from the increased trade generated
by the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Act (TPA). These
unionists disagreed with claims that the Colombian
government did not do enough to combat violence against
unionists and impunity. They explained that the labor
confederations that oppose the TPA consist largely of
public sector workers who reject free trade for
ideological reasons. They added that the confederations
wish to deny Uribe passage of the TPA because of their
alliance with opposition political parties. The union
representatives said they seek legislative changes to
provide increased safeguards for workers, but added that
they expect implementation of those changes in Colombia's
upcoming legislative session. They stressed that workers
would gain nothing by blocking the TPA's approval. END
SUMMARY.

--------------
TPA VITAL TO JOB GROWTH, STABILITY
--------------


4. (U) Union representatives from the fruit, flower,
metalworking, packing, gold mining, and textile industries
voiced support for a U.S.-Colombia TPA to Secretary Rice
and her delegation in a January 25 meeting. The union
leaders said they represented over 80,000 workers from
their specific unions and claimed the support of many more
whose unions could not attend. Sanchez said Colombian
workers would benefit from increased trade with the United
States. The TPA would give Colombia permanent duty-free
access to U.S. markets, ensuring job stability and growth
of export industries. Botero said the Colombian and U.S.
economies appear more complementary than competitive,
noting that the United States does not mass-produce
Colombian exports such as bananas, coffee, and emeralds.
He emphasized that Colombia is not a significant consumer
of these goods and these industries depend on access to
U.S. markets for their "survival." Likewise, Colombia
does not produce U.S. exports such as industrial
machinery.

-------------- --------------
OPPOSITION BASED ON IDEOLOGICAL, NOT ECONOMIC INTERESTS
-------------- --------------


5. (SBU) Restrepo said Colombia's three main labor
confederations rejected free trade on purely ideological
grounds, adding that they favor protectionist trade


polices to stop the "imperial invasion" of the North
Americans. In addition, he claimed the confederations
have no real economic basis for rejecting the agreement.
The United Confederation of Workers, Colombia's largest
labor confederation, largely consists of school teachers
and other public sector workers who have no real stake in
trade issues. Cadavid pointed out that the labor
confederations have historically allied themselves with
opposition parties and want to deny Uribe passage of the
TPA for political reasons.

--------------
UNIONS: LABOR SITUATION HAS GREATLY IMPROVED
--------------


6. (SBU) The labor representatives unanimously agreed
that, while there was still more to be done, the Colombian
government had made significant advances in its efforts to
protect labor leaders, prosecute perpetrators of violence
against unionists, and guarantee the rights of workers to
organize and bargain collectively. Palacio said that in
the past union members in his home town frequently got
caught in the crossfire between guerrillas and
paramilitaries. Thanks to Uribe's security policies, not
a single unionist in the government protection program has
been killed in the past three years, and perpetrators of
crimes have been brought to justice. Navarro criticized
the confederations for refusing to recognize the dramatic
security improvements over the last five years.

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TPA PRESENTS OPPORTUNITY FOR GREATER LABOR PROTECTIONS
-------------- --------------


7. (SBU) The labor delegates explained that they viewed
the TPA as an opportunity to push for further reforms,
noting that the Colombian government has responded to
their concerns. The government introduced legislation in
Congress that transfers authority for deciding the
legality of a strike from the Ministry of Social
Protection to independent labor judges, requires mediation
before submitting labor disputes to binding arbitration,
and require workers' cooperatives to pay social security
and other benefits to their workers. Navarro said
Congress will consider this legislation in a special
February session.
RICE