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. -------------- -------------- 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