Colombian workers, union leaders and the director of Colombia's national union school will take part in a panel discussion at AFL-CIO headquarters tomorrow following the release of a new report by the AFL-CIO on the Labor Action Plan that was intended to reduce the violence directed at Colombian workers and union activists and increase their ability to exercise basic labor rights such as free association and collective bargaining.  

The Labor Action Plan was negotiated to ease the passage of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. The AFL-CIO and allies successfully held off the vote for years over Colombia's troubling human rights record. Colombia has been the deadliest nation in the world for trade unionists. Thirty were slain in 2011 and another 10 were killed already this year. Impunity from prosecution for such killings remains high, at around 95 percent.

The 2012 ILO Annual Conference is under way in Geneva, Switzerland, and representatives of employers have blocked discussion of some of the worst cases of workers' rights violations. The conference usually brings up the most serious cases from the annual report of the ILO’s Committee of Experts, a 17-member committee of eminent international jurists and legal scholars. But this year, the Employers Group has used procedural maneuvers to block discussion of any cases.

The AFL-CIO and several individual unions, including the Machinists, the Steelworkers, Mine Workers and Food and Commercial Workers in recent days met with leadership of the new Colombian Labor Inspectorate and Department of Labor officials, to discuss how the inspectorate is working to promote and protect workers' rights in Colombia—and what it is doing to make sure workers who exercise their rights can do so without putting their lives on the line.

What’s going on in Colombia? Since the announcement that the U.S.-Colombia Trade Agreement would enter into force on May 15, the violence and threats against human and workers' rights advocates actually have increased. Rather than advancing human rights in Colombia, the implementation announcement seems to be increasing the complacency of the Colombian government—and having devastating effects on Colombia’s population.

Every year, 60 percent of the fresh-cut flowers sold in the United States come from Colombia, where most flower workers are women. This Mother's Day, May 13, USLEAP is again urging all of us to take action to help these women win economic justice by showing your solidarity with working mothers everywhere by making a $35 donation to USLEAP's campaign to support flower workers.

United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard says Colombia “continues its shameful distinction as the most dangerous country in the world to be a trade unionist.” He says that withholding implementation of the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is the “surest form of leverage the U.S. has to safeguard the lives and well-being of unionists in Colombia.”

Gerard’s comments follow Sunday’s announcement by the White House that it will implement the FTA beginning May 15.

The announcement by the White House this afternoon that Colombia has successfully implemented key elements  of the Labor Action Plan and that the U.S.–Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will enter into force on May 15 "is deeply disappointing and troubling," says AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Trayvon Martin's shooting rightly provoked widespread indignation and outrage throughout America. Yet this weekend, our government could certify that Colombia has fulfilled its workers' rights obligations and allow the U.S. free trade agreement with Colombia to fully take effect.

That, says Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard in a post at AlterNet, would be turning "our backs on the 30 trade unionists slain in Colombia last year and the six that Justice for Colombia reports have been murdered already this year."

This is a cross-post from the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center.

In Colombia’s coal mines, troubling health and safety risks combined with serious environmental and social justice issues create conditions reminiscent of mining in the early 20th century in the United States. The dangers mine workers—and local communities—face are real and frightening, say four mining safety and health experts from the Mine Workers (UMWA).

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and tens of millions of us will show our love to that special someone with flowers. But Valentine’s Day also gives us a great opportunity to how our support for the 100,000 mostly women workers in Colombia who work long days to cut and ship flowers for Valentine’s Day.