Committee on Education and Labor : U.S. House of Representatives

Press Releases

Chairman Miller Statement on Labor Conditions for Colombian Flower Workers

Thursday, February 14, 2008

 

WASHINGTON, DC -- U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, issued the following statement today at a House International Workers Rights Caucus briefing on labor conditions in the Colombian flower industry. 

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Last month I traveled to Colombia to investigate whether it has done enough to guarantee workers the basic rights that workers in every country deserve.  

Part of my trip was focused on learning more about Colombia’s nascent efforts to address a backlog of cases involving the killings of union members. Colombia has a long and troubling history of allowing crimes of violence against union members to go unprosecuted. Over 2,500 union members have been killed in the past two decades.

The effort to prosecute and adjudicate these cases has recently faltered – some observers say it has faltered for political reasons – and I have written to President Uribe asking for more information about why this has happened. 

Another part of my trip focused on collective bargaining efforts in Colombia’s flower industry. That is what I’ll discuss today, because today is Valentine’s Day. Millions of American consumers will purchase roses and carnations that were grown in Colombia by workers whose rights have not been respected.   

During my trip, I met with Colombian flower workers in a small town called Facatativa. They were working six-day weeks, but they told me that they would soon switch to working all seven days, for up to 18 hours a day, because of the rush to prepare for Valentine’s Day in the U.S. These workers told me about their low wages and the grueling physical conditions they endured on the flower farms.   

Thankfully, none of these particular workers had been targeted with anti-union violence.  However, they did tell me that it took them six long years to win recognition for their labor union, SINTRA SPLENDOR.  During those six years, the workers felt they were fought at every opportunity by the Colombian government and their employer, the Dole Corporation. 

After winning union recognition, the workers had a difficult time negotiating a first contract with Dole. Negotiations broke down in May 2007, after several months at the bargaining table.  Therefore, in June 2007, the union officially filed a petition for arbitration with the Ministry of Social Protection.  

I am told that the process of ordering such an arbitration should take several weeks and, at most, just a few months. But when I met with the workers in January 2008 – roughly eight months after talks broke down – it still had not been ordered.

The workers told me that the Ministry of Social Protection had continually found bureaucratic excuses for not ordering the arbitration, like claiming that certain forms had been completed incorrectly.   

The workers and union leaders told me that such delays were common in the Colombian flower industry, part of an unofficial government policy to thwart union efforts.  I met later that same day with Colombia’s Minister of Social Protection, who promised me that he would look into this particular delay.

Within days, the Ministry finally ordered arbitration for the SINTRA SPLENDOR union’s first labor contact.  While I am thankful that the Colombian government took my concerns seriously, I do not think it should take the intervention of a U.S. Congressman for the Colombian government to issue basic orders in a timely fashion, as required by Colombian labor law.      

Colombian labor leaders are working on a proposal that they will soon present to the Ministry of Social Protection. The proposal would authorize the International Labor Organization, which recently created an office in Bogota, to more closely monitor the flower industry. 

This work would include monitoring the Ministry of Social Protection’s procedures related to freedom of association and making recommendations for policy changes when it believes that workers’ rights have not been respected. 

Such a proposal may very well be needed.  Allowing the ILO to do more in Colombia could be one of many steps necessary to assuaging the serious concerns within the U.S. Congress regarding the labor situation in Colombia.  

Thank you.

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