COLOMBIA LABOR UPDATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BOGOTA 001012 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/24/2019 TAGS: ELAB PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI CO SUBJECT: COLOMBIA LABOR UPDATE Classified By: Political Counselor John S. Creamer Reason 1.4 (b, d) SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) The labor-affiliated National Union School (ENS) reports seven cases of unionist homicides so far in 2009. Since its inception in October 2006, the Prosecutor General's (Fiscalia) labor sub-unit has obtained convictions of 126 individuals for labor-related crimes. In total, the Fiscalia has convicted 204 individuals since 2000. After criticism from the three major labor confederations, the Fiscalia will no longer publicly report on the judicially determined motives of perpetrators in successfully prosecuted labor cases. Still, the Fiscalia told us on a non-attribution basis that its analysis of judicial decisions through February 15 shows the most common motive was the unionist's perceived affiliation with the FARC or ELN (31 percent), followed by union/professional activity (20 percent),unknown (20 percent),common crime (15 percent) and personal disputes (5 percent). End Summary HOMICIDES OF UNIONISTS IN 2009 -------------- ¶2. (C) The National Union School (ENS) reports seven cases of unionist murders so far in 2009, all of whom were union members. (Note: ENS includes in its statistics a broad spectrum of labor activist groups that are not registered as unions, including peasant leaders, family members of unionists they determine are targeted due to their family members' union affiliation, and members of any organization that has a "union-like" structure.) LABOR SUB-UNIT SPEEDS UP CASE PROCESSING -------------- ¶3. (U) Since 2000, the Prosecutor General's Office (Fiscalia) has obtained convictions of 204 individuals for labor-related crimes. The Fiscalia's labor crimes sub-unit--created in October, 2006 and housed within the Fiscalia's Human Rights Unit -- has obtained 126 convictions, or over 60 percent of the total number of individuals convicted. The sub-unit has obtained the conviction of seven individuals so far in 2009. (Note: The Fiscalia has resolved a total of 135 cases, resulting in 184 sentences against 269 people. However, once the list of sentenced offenders is purged of multiple sentences against the same person, the result is 204 individuals). ¶4. (U) The labor sub-unit, created as part of the tripartite agreement in 2006 between the GOC, labor, and employers, developed a "priority" list of 185 labor cases to pursue. To date, thirty-two priority cases have been successfully prosecuted, although some unions question the validity of the case list. The sub-unit has a staff of 116--19 prosecutors, 19 assistant prosecutors, and 78 investigators. The sub-unit has been assigned a total of 1303 labor-crime cases associated with 1545 victims. Of the assigned cases, 616 are for homicides (823 victims) and 289 cases are for threats. Many of these cases are reflected in ILO case 1787. Sixty-one of the assigned cases are being pursued under the new accusatory system. FISCALIA WARY TO PUBLICIZE MOTIVES -------------- ¶5. (C) After criticism from the three major labor confederations, the Fiscalia no longer publicly reports on the judicially-determined motives of perpetrators in successfully-prosecuted cases. Still, it maintains internal data based on judicial decisions. Its most recent report (through February 15)--which the Fiscalia provided us on a non-attribution basis--indicates the most common motive (31 percent) was the victim's perceived affiliation with the FARC or ELN. Tied for the second most common motive was union/professional activity and unknown (20 percent each), followed by common crime (15 percent) and personal disputes (5 percent). The confederations have opposed efforts to fund independent studies to determine the cause of violence against unionists. THE STATE OF COLOMBIAN UNIONS -------------- ¶6. (U) Approximately 825,000 workers -- representing about 11 percent of Colombia's 7.4 million formal sector employees -- are unionized in Colombia, with most affiliated with one of the three labor federations. According to Juan Bernardo Rosado of the National Labor School, 52% (430,206) of union members work in the public sector, 230,000 of whom are members of the Colombian Federation of Educators (FECODE). FECODE is Colombia's largest public sector union. The next largest public sector union is the Association of Health and Social Security Workers of Colombia (ANTHOC),with approximately 20,000 members. BROWNFIELD