July 10, 2008
Union leaders representing a million workers will visit Colombia to assess human rights
PSAC's John Gordon to join union solidarity tour
OTTAWA - The national leaders of the four major public sector unions in Canada will visit Colombia July 18-25 to meet with union leaders, politicians, diplomats, human rights groups and others. Their mission is to assess the human rights situation.
The visit will allow the leaders to examine first-hand the problems that afflict the South American country, especially given the current government's human rights record and the concerns about the recent free trade agreement with Canada.
The group includes national presidents: John Gordon, Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC); Paul Moist, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE); Denis Lemelin, Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW); and George Heyman, international vice-president of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).
The labour tour will stop in Bogota, Medellin and Cali as well as some rural destinations to visit indigenous communities. A main focus of the tour is to assess the impact of Colombian government policies on various sectors, but especially the public sector.
The leaders will also attend the final meetings of the Permanent People's Tribunal on Colombia in Bogota on July 21, 22 and 23. The tribunal has been holding hearings on human rights violations since April 2006. Since then, there have been hearings on six sectors of the economy: food production, mining, biodiversity, oil, public services, and lastly on the genocide of indigenous peoples.
The leaders will also discuss the impact of the new free trade agreement and continued pressure to privatize Colombian public services.
The trip is being co-sponsored by PSAC's Social Justice Fund, which works to fight poverty, promote public services and advance the rights of workers and their unions in the developing world.
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Date Modified : 2008/07/10
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