“Don’t Reward Murder”

Today the AFL-CIO placed ads opposing the US-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in major Washington DC-based publications, including The Hill, The Politico, and Roll Call. The ad is part of a major effort to educate the public and Congress on the dangers Colombian trade unionists face and the problems inherent in the FTA President Bush sent to Congress over the objections of the leadership. Other efforts in the campaign will include visits with members of Congress, rallies and online mobilizations.

The ad shows a Colombian woman grieving over a coffin. It urges Congress: “Don’t reward murder. Stop the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.”

Seventeen unionists have been murdered since January 1st – a 70 percent acceleration over last year at this time – according to the National Labor School, a respected NGO. So far this year, trade unionists have been murdered at a rate of over one a week. In 2007, 39 union workers were murdered, 11 were victims of attempted murder and 224 received death threats. In the last two decades, 2,500 trade unionists have been targeted and murdered.

“The Colombia Free Trade Agreement is about even more than the wrong-headed trade policies that have cost our country millions of manufacturing jobs, boosted trade deficits to record levels and shredded the paychecks of U.S. workers. It’s about cold-blooded murder,” reads the ad. “Congress should refuse to approve this agreement until workers in Colombia can exercise their fundamental human rights without fear. Working families in Colombia as well as in the United States deserve no less.”

To see the ads and learn more about the issue, go to www.aflcio.org/colombia

Contact: Alison Omens (202) 637-5018