(MintPress) – After nearly two months of protest, workers at the General Motors (GM) Bogota, Colombia, Colmotores plant are continuing with a hunger strike that was implemented on Aug. 1. The workers are calling for GM to compensate employees for serious injuries they suffer while on the job and to provide re-employment services when they are fired for their medical conditions. In line with their demonstration, those challenging GM have sewn their mouths shut and promised to die for their cause, with the hopes of shedding light on the treatment of labor unions in Colombia, which has notoriously been known for oppressing such organizations.
Leading the protest is the founder and president of the Association of Injured Workers and Ex-Workers of General Motors Colombia (ASOTRECOL), Jorge Parra. Parra’s story is not unlike the growing number of instances coming out of the Bogota plant: He has herniated discs in his back and torn muscles around his spine as a result of his job at the GM plant. And then there is Manuel Ospina, who is also taking part in the hunger strike after falling while carrying heavy equipment. Ospina says his injuries are so severe that he can no longer walk.
But the injuries alone are not leading the demonstrations, but rather GM’s lack of response to them. Parra’s organization says the automobile builder commonly fires employees who are injured on the job to avoid paying out medical bills. Parra also said in an interview with the Real News that simply falling ill is enough for the GM plant to lay off a worker, or, in his case, challenging the system.
“All I was guilty of, thanks to the confidence of my partners, was try to fight for justice, to fight for recognition of our rights as workers – for that I was fired,” Parra said. “Others were fired totally differently – simply when the production of cars slows, they fire us. And unfortunately, the plant’s medical center was only there to detect when workers got sick so they could fire the sick workers. And this is very common among the workers of GM – from what we have gathered, more than 200 workers have been affected by this situation.”
The back-and-forth
Protests for the cause began in the summer of 2011, where workers began demonstrating outside the United States Embassy in Bogota. The workers have long stated that they want medical compensation for injuries accrued on the job and assistance in finding new work after unceremonious firings.
To further his cause, Parra travelled to Washington D.C. to start promising negotiations with GM representatives. But the haggling ended abruptly and with mixed reports. GM told the International Business Times that Parra and others in the negotiations walked off after scoffing at a “generous” deal that “offered proposals such as retraining/employability programs, health coverage and ongoing support for former workers and their families.
“We made, we, GM, made a number of very generous offers to ASOTRECOL, some of them on par with similar offers we have made in the U.S.,” GM representative Katie McBride said after negotiations.
Parra said reports of him “walking out” are completely inaccurate and put his group in a false light. He said GM’s offering was a “joke” and argued that their compensation plan was unacceptable.
“It is completely false that we walked away,” Parra said. “The only thing GM offered was $6,000 to share between the 12 workers; that is not even enough to buy a hot-dog stand.
The resulting actions have been waves of hunger strikes that have coincided during the down time between negotiations. By sewing their lips shut, the workers are not able to consume food and only mumble as a means of communication. And a mission that once started in Colombia has settled in Washington D.C., as the workers are being hosted by Gimena Sanchez, a supporter of the movement. Parra hopes that by bringing the protest stateside, the group will bring more awareness to the issue and create a stronger public outcry, resulting in GM coming to a better resolution to the problem.
“We are all totally prepared to die,” Parra said. “I have terrible pains in my stomach, my lips are swollen and sore, and I am having problems sleeping … But I will not give up.”
Colombia vs. the labor unions
Proponents of the current hunger strike point to the broad issue of Colombia being a hostile territory for organized labor. Over the past 20 year, 4,000 Colombian trade unionists have been murdered, according to estimates by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
Opponents to Colombia’s anti-union stance point out that the country is in violation of provisions in the United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement (CTPA) that were meant to improve standards of labor. The Labor Action Plan, signed by both the U.S. and Colombia last April and implemented this May, forced Colombia to adopt stronger protections for workers and unions. Critics say that has not happened, however.
Alternet reports that of the claims filed against GM in Colombia, which has around 1,800 employees, 95 percent of the final rulings have been in favor of GM. Parra attributes the low probability of a victory to corruption in the Colombian government and a cozy relationship between it and GM.
U.S. companies have grown their reach to places such as Colombia because of exporting options, and President Barack Obama emphasized his desire to double U.S. exports by 2014 when he announced the National Export Initiative. But large U.S. corporations in Colombia have sketchy track records, and oversight of those businesses is a gray area at best.
Witness for Peace, a grassroots organization, argues that corporations only see countries like Colombia as business savvy and a means of exploiting cheap land costs and inexpensive labor expenses. Ethical lapses also seem to come with the territory, as Coca-Cola was sued in 2001 for allegedly hiring paramilitaries to kidnap Colombian trade unionists. Chiquita was also fined for financing paramilitaries with $1.7 million, demonstrating the close partnerships between the government and business.
“Multinational corporations (MNCs) view Colombia as prime land for exploitation of raw materials for exportation,” the organization wrote. “Their ‘investment’ in Colombia is little more than the minimum infrastructure to be able to export and they rarely invest in local communities (creating jobs for local citizens or in the needs of the communities) that would improve Colombians’ quality of life.”
The U.S. Embassy in Bogota has expressed concern over the health of those participating in the hunger strike and has noted that it has encouraged parties within Colombian politics to press both sides to reach a negotiation.
“The U.S. Embassy has been following the General Motors-Asotrecol case closely. During this time, mission and congressional representatives have actively engaged with both parties and the Colombian government,” the embassy said. “We will continue to monitor the situation closely with particular concern for the health of those on a hunger strike.”
For Parra, the hunger strike is the most extreme measure he foresees the group having to take after more than a year long battle with GM.
“For the first time, after many years, we have called attention to the workers’ struggle. It’s very sad that we’ve had to make such sacrifices, sewing our lips and going hungry, but the struggle has brought us to this point and we need to keep it up until the end,” Parra said. “We are disposed and prepared, and if necessary, we will die in our hunger strike if GM doesn’t respond to this situation.”