U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud speaks on labor

At Eastern Maine Labor Council 4th July Solidarity Celebration

July 4, 2007 / Brewer, Maine

U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud (D-ME, 2nd District) gave a short, meaty speech on Independence Day at a labor solidarity family celebration sponsored by the Eastern Maine Labor Council and Food AND Medicine. Mike spoke about the recent announcement by Quaker Fabrics of Fall River, Massachusetts that it is expecting to close due to free trade policies, the effect of NAFTA on immigration, and terrible labor repression in Colombia.

Mike referred to recent activity by trade unionists to convince the Democratic Congress that approving a free trade agreement with Colombia is not a good idea at the same time it appears to be open season on union organizers in that country. (See also, media file associated with THIS June 28, 2007 hearing in the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittees on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight, Bill Delahunt [D-MA], Chairman, and on the Western Hemisphere, Eliot L. Engel [D-NY], Chairman.)

Also included with this post is a downloadable audio-only mp3 file of Mike’s July 4 speech.

Additional links to news stories are below the fold. U.S. companies are alleged to be implicated in the murder of Colombian labor leaders. (Mike mentions “Operation Dragon” in his speech–”an effort to neutralize 175 social and labor leaders,” according to a USW press release.)

 

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U.S. companies tied to Colombia labor activist murders at House hearing
The Associated Press
Published: June 28, 2007

WASHINGTON: The United States shares the blame for Colombia’s suffering, a top Democrat said Thursday at a congressional hearing focusing on allegations that U.S. companies funded illegal right-wing militias that have killed hundreds of union activists in the Andean nation.

“We are complicit in the devastation of that society,” said Rep. Bill Delahunt, a Democrat. “So it is a moral imperative that requires us to help Colombia end that cycle of violence”

Delahunt, who chairs the House Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight, spoke during a hearing in which Chiquita Brands International Inc. and the Alabama coal company Drummond Co. Inc. were singled as having close ties to Colombia’s paramilitaries. Chiquita has acknowledged having paid paramilitaries $1.7 million (€1.3 million) in protection money over six years. Drummond has denied having made any payments….

USW Congressional Letter Condemns Colombia’s Failure to Prosecute Trade Unionists’ Murders Cites Evidence of Witnesses in Protective Custody Being Suppressed by Colombia’s Prosecuting Authorities; Urges Rejection of Trade Deal
Press release from United Steel Workers
Pittsburgh – June 8, 2007

The United Steelworkers (USW) union today informed members of Congress that the union is “aware of witnesses in protective custody in Colombia who have knowledge” about the murder of trade unionists by paramilitaries connected to the government, “but who have never been asked about this knowledge” by the Colombian authorities.

“As long as the Uribe administration continues to suppress crucial evidence about these murders and its own connection to them, it is unconscionable for Congress even to consider passing a trade agreement with that government, let alone give it billions more in aid when there’s indisputable evidence his administration has conspired with paramilitaries to assassinate workers,” said USW President Leo W. Gerard.

The USW’s letter specifically cites the case of three Colombian trade union leaders at the mining operations of U.S.–based Drummond Company who were murdered by paramilitary forces.

The USW took the unprecedented step of filing an Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) case against the Drummond Company, resulting in part from first-hand testimony of these human rights violations gathered during visits to Colombia by a U.S. delegation of the USW.

“While the Attorney General of Colombia claims to be investigating Drummond for the murder of three trade unionists in 2001,” the union’s letter states, “the USW is aware of witnesses in protective custody in Colombia who have knowledge about Drummond’s connections with these murders, but who have never been asked about this knowledge.”

Recently the Fiscalia of Colombia exposed an attempt to assassinate Senator Gustavo Petro, a plot, according to the Fiscalia, hatched by Julian Villate who, in August 2004, admitted to being one of the leaders of “Operation Dragon,” a plan to put 175 social and labor leaders under surveillance and to neutralize these leaders, in part by assassination.

The USW letter pointed out that “At the time, Mr. Villate indicated that the Colombia Ministry of Interior and the DAS knew of and approved this plot.

“Notwithstanding Mr. Villate’s admitted involvement in ‘Operation Dragon,’” the USW wrote, “he remains at large and gainfully employed by the Drummond Company.”

The letter further pointed out that “while the U.S. has been providing the DAS with assistance to protect trade unionists, the former head of the DAS, Jorge Noguera, is currently under indictment for colluding with illegal paramilitary groups that kill trade unionists.”

Despite $4 billion in aid from the U.S., much of it to the Colombian military to eradicate coca trafficking, in 2006 there was an 8% increase in coca production, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has concluded that both the Colombian military and paramilitary forces are the major drug traffickers in Colombia.

The USW’s letter concluded by urging Congress to “discontinue all further military assistance to Colombia, condition non-military assistance with strict auditing procedures and refuse to approve the bi-lateral free trade agreement.”