Speech to Congress 2008 by Tarsicio Mora Godoy, President of CUT Colombia
TUC Congress, Brighton, Wednesday 10 September 2008.
On behalf of the Colombian workers grouped in the Unitary Workers Central of Colombia - CUT - I bring you a fraternal greeting and our thanks for the consideration that you have always had for us Colombians.

The CUT is a democratic organisation with 450,000 members in our affiliated unions, of whom 60% are women - although unfortunately in the last elections only one woman was elected to the Executive Committee.

At this time, the country is in the midst of a political crisis. 70 members of Congress, as well as Ministers and Army Generals, are under investigation for links to paramilitaries. Fortunately in Colombia there are trade unions, human rights NGOs and social research institutions that, together with the social movement, defend the Rule of Law and seek to limit the excesses of authoritarianism.

Little by little, citizens' rights are being curtailed, the opposition is demonised and the economy cannot sustain the increasing military expenditure. The Executive seeks to weaken the other branches of power - the judiciary and the legislature. Government policies have ignored social issues.

We must condemn the fact that despite a national constitution, ILO Conventions and laws - social, political and cultural rights are systematically violated, especially by the government itself.

In Colombia we do not have labour laws that provide even minimal protection to the workers. The right to freedom of association does not exist. In the last five years, 253 new unions have been refused registration; collective bargaining that seeks to improve working conditions is, in practice, illegal for some and almost impossible to exercise for others; and the Government has intentionally ignored ILO recommendations.

In 2007 in comparison to 2005, the number of collective bargaining agreements fell whilst the number of collective pacts - in English you might call them 'workplace agreements' - generally imposed by employers, grew substantially. In the 1996-1997 period, 460,000 people benefited from collective bargaining, whilst in 2006-2007 only 175,000 benefited. That is proof of a significant reduction in collective bargaining. Today 62% of those who benefited from collective bargaining a decade ago are without protection.

In Colombia a political environment hostile to the exercise of trade union freedoms and social dialogue persists. Evidence of that is that the Government has introduced employment bills that ignore the proposals made by the union centres, which were aim at fulfilling the recommendations made by the ILO.

Anti-trade union violence has increased. So far this year 41 trade unionists have been assassinated, 4 forcibly disappeared, 4 displaced and 126 threatened.

These figures demonstrate the human rights crisis facing the union movement. Violence is not random and indiscriminate, as the government tries to claim in an effort to hide the real dimensions of the problem. The majority of human rights violations against trade unionists are linked to industrial disputes. Furthermore, in the majority of cases, armed actors intervene in labour conflicts in order to support and impose the employment policies of the State.

What we are seeing is systematic, permanent and selective violence, which can clearly be considered as political genocide against the trade union movement.

At the moment social organisations from the south of the country are marching - against hunger and poverty - to Bogota. Recently the lorry drivers went on strike for 16 days; the workers at the Drummond Coal Company were also on strike. Students, peasants and indigenous people are equally unhappy with the economic and social situation in the country. And, as I speak, the workers of the judiciary, members of the CUT-affiliated 'Asonal Judicial' trade union, are on indefinite national strike.

We want to find formulas that will allow us to escape from this desperate situation. We don't want more war. This is why we ask you to support the campaign to persuade the British Government to halt the military aid that they are providing to the Colombian Army, and instead replace it with humanitarian and social development aid. We want foreign aid to be for peace and not for war.

I thank the TUC, its affiliated unions, and of course, the 'Justice for Colombia' campaign, for your solidarity.
Long live proletarian internationalism!
Long live workers' unity!
And long live the TUC - so that together we may build the society and the world that we want!
Thank you.


Gordon Brown almost fell over himself in his haste to warn trade unions there will be "no return" to past laws and no pay deals as political parties prepare to submit annual accounts.
It is likely Labour's accounts will reveal as much as 80% of its funding now comes from unions in the wake of the cash for honours scandal. Mr Brown's words came as trade unions prepared policy demands for the next Labour manifesto.

"Successful government are those whose eyes are fixed on the future not harking back to the past," he said, so why does he hark back to the Thatcherite anti union regime of the 1980's?. He claimed: "The countries that prosper in the future will be those that combine fairness with flexibility to achieve full employment. So there will be no return to the 1970s, the 1980s or even the 1990s when it comes to union rights, no retreat from continued modernisation and there can be no question of any re-introduction of secondary picketing rights. While we will push ahead with our family-friendly agenda we will do nothing that puts employment and future prosperity at risk."


BT - Making a Killing in the Philippines
BT has made the decision to outsource work from Northern Ireland to the Philippines. Whilst the decisions of multinational companies, including BT, to use cheap labour abroad is nothing new, the fact that a company would outsource work to a country where workers are abused so regularly is staggering. Workers in the Philippines are not only poorly paid and badly treated but anyone who joins a union or attempts to organise can ‘disappear’ or be brutally murdered by agents of the state.

BT would face public condemnation if the amount of jobs they have already off-shored were made public. They need to be exposed as moving much needed work from Northern Ireland to a country with one of the worst records for human rights in the world. The Communication Workers Union, who represent workers in BT, need to be campaigning publicly and within BT to stop this flight of capital to a country where to be a union member can be a death sentence. BT already has the disgrace of using cheap labour abroad to undermine UK workers terms and conditions. If they get away with this they will also have the blood of murdered workers on their hands.

The human-rights group Karapatan estimates the figure of union members and activists murdered since Gloria Arroyo came to power, at over 800. Nearly all of the cases remain unresolved. An additional 200 activists are considered "disappeared", and the number grows every week.


Many decisions of far reaching importance for members of the CWU are made by politicians. They are beyond the scope of normal industrial relations. The need for the CWU - like other UK trades unions - to have an effective voice in politics today is as great as it was for trades unions a century ago when they were instrumental in forming the Labour Party.

The CWU seeks to influence policy and decisions on a range of industry, employment and other key issues mainly through its affiliation to the Labour Party. Its political work embraces European, devolved, regional and local government, as well as Westminster Government. The Union seeks to extend its engagement and input to Labour Party policy into every level of the Labour Party. This is done through its delegates and representatives from CWU Branches and from the Union at regional and national levels.

Each Branch of the Union is required by Rule to have a Branch Political Officer. The name and contact details of the Branch Political Officer can be obtained from this website.

CWU Solent elect delegates to our affiliated CLPs and TUCs at the Annual General Meeting. For issues to be raised by delegates they need to be debated at a Branch Meeting. For further details contact the Branch Political Officer.