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DE RUEHBO #0790/01 0371133
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061133Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY BOGOTA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2465
INFO RUEHCV/AMEMBASSY CARACAS 8640
RUEHLP/AMEMBASSY LA PAZ FEB LIMA 4709
RUEHQT/AMEMBASSY QUITO 5364
RUEHGL/AMCONSUL GUAYAQUIL 3859
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1433

UNCLAS BOGOTA 000790 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT. PLEASE PASS TO USTR, DOL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB ETRD PGOV CO
SUBJECT: TRADE CONFEDERATIONS SEND ANTI-FTA LETTER TO U.S. 
CONGRESS 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (U) On January 23, two trade confederations and a 
pensioner's group released an open letter to the U.S. 
Congress, criticizing the bilateral Free Trade Agreement 
(FTA) and urging that it not be ratified (See para 5).  The 
trade confederations also invited a  U.S. labor-Congressional 
delegation to visit Colombia in March, and are planning their 
own visit to the U.S. Congress later that month to lobby 
against a trade deal.  End Summary. 
 
---------------------------- 
OPEN LETTER TO U.S. CONGRESS 
---------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) On January 23, the United Workers' Confederation (CUT) 
publicized an open letter, signed by the presidents of the 
CUT, the Colombian Workers' Confederation (CTC), and the 
Colombian Confederation of Pensioners (CPC), and addressed to 
the House Ways and Means Committee of the United States 
Congress (See para 5).  The letter criticized the Free Trade 
Agreement (FTA) and urged that it not be ratified.  The 
letter claimed the agreement would increase unemployment, 
worsen labor conditions and contracting practices, increase 
health care and pharmaceutical costs, and force agricultural 
workers to turn to illegal activities.  The General Labor 
Confederation (CGT) abstained from signing the CUT letter, 
but sent its own letter to Congress opposing the accord. 
 
-------------------- 
ANTI-FTA DELEGATIONS 
-------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) CUT president Carlos Rodriguez told us the letter 
was the first step in the trade confederations' efforts to 
bring a delegation of U.S. labor leaders and members of 
Congress to Colombia.  He expects the visit to take place 
around mid-March, but did not yet know which members of 
Congress would accept the invitation.  In recent days, 
Colombian labor leaders have also been discussing sending a 
Colombian labor delegation to the U.S. Congress to present 
their anti-FTA positions. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
LABOR LEADERS STUDYING REVISION OF LABOR CHAPTER 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Rodriguez said the CUT is studying how the labor 
chapter could be re-written.  He said the three trade 
confederations would meet with President Uribe on January 31 
to discuss possible revisions.  Rodriguez said the main 
problem with the labor chapter was that grievances over labor 
violations would be subject to review and sanction only if 
said violations were trade-related.  The trade confederations 
are seeking provisions that stipulate sanctions for any type 
of labor violation.  He also said the trade confederations' 
concerns over the FTA were not limited to the labor chapter, 
explaining, "All the clauses of the FTA are essentially labor 
clauses." 
 
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INFORMAL EMBASSY TRANSLATION OF LETTER 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Begin informal Embassy translation of letter: 
 
Bogota, January 23, 2007 
 
OPEN LETTER TO THE HONORABLE REPRESENTATIVES ON THE 
COMMISSION ON WAYS AND MEANS AND TO THE HOUSE OF 
REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.  ATTENTION: 
REPRESENTATIVE CHARLES RANGEL 
 
Since negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement began, 
Colombian trade confederations have expressed total 
opposition to the contents of this agreement, not only those 
against the labor cause, but also against the many provisions 
of this agreement that would be detrimental to the interests 
of the national economy and result in the destruction of our 
agriculture, industrial, and service sectors, thus increasing 
unemployment and deteriorating work conditions.  Therefore, 
on May 18, 2004, the AFL-CIO and Colombian trade 
 
confederations signed a declaration against the FTA's 
commercial unsuitability. 
 
Analyzing the contents of the agreement, we reiterate our 
opposition, strengthened by recent analyses by political and 
labor sectors concerned over the effects of the agreement, 
not only regarding labor, but also in commercial matters, 
intellectual property, and environment, among many others. 
 
Given the asymmetry between our countries and the fact that 
the U.S. economy is more than one hundred times more 
developed than ours, fair commercial exchange is impossible. 
Domestic and multinational companies in Colombia will have to 
lower their labor and tax costs in order to export 
competitively, resulting in an increase in poverty and a 
decrease in tax revenues and the State's ability to meet its 
social obligations. 
 
Ratification of the agreement will raze the remaining jobs 
that have survived the three years since Colombia's domestic 
market opened, which already has brought increases in poverty 
and unemployment. 
 
In the past 15 years, labor legislation has been modified for 
the worse, to the point that workers' rights to organize 
unions and to negotiate labor conditions collectively have 
virtually disappeared.  Currently, with a workforce of 18 
million, less than half of which receive steady salary, there 
are less than one million unionized workers and less than 
200,000 of whom enjoy collective bargaining agreements, 
arbitration awards, or collective pacts. 
 
In addition, irregular forms of contracting, such as 
temporary work agencies, workers' cooperatives, and 
commercial contracts, dominate the Colombian labor market; 
the situation of child labor and explotation of women is also 
becoming more and more notorious.  Colombian labor 
legislation and managerial practices endorsed by the 
government drift farther and farther from ILO standards. 
 
The FTA will stimulate the implementation of new reforms and 
labor practices that undermine the few rights we have left. 
As an example of the direction we are heading, President 
Uribe recently ordered a decree to liquidate the State-run 
Social Security Institute (ISS), which administers workers' 
health, pension, and insurance programs, moving these 
responsibilities to the private sector. 
 
This situation will worsen due to price increases in medical 
procedures and medicine that will take place as a consequence 
of the FTA's provisions on intellectual property rights. 
Recently a mission from the World Bank to Colombia 
recommended eliminating the minimum wage, advice that found 
an eager audience among employer associations and government 
circles. 
 
It is useful to remember that in addition to the disregard 
for worker rights, there persists, as part of the same 
anti-union campaign, a permanent violation of human rights, 
evidenced by the killings of union leaders and activists, 
their forced displacement, and the exile of thousands of 
workers due to threats against their lives. 
 
We are deeply concerned that the predictable decrease in 
agricultural jobs will cause mass importing of food, and a 
significant percentage of Colombian peasants will be forced 
to grow illicit crops and turn to other criminal activities 
in order to survive. 
 
We are not against international trade, but it should be 
conducted within a spirit of respect for a country's 
sovereignty, mutual benefit, and the promotion of productive 
development, aspects that the FTA does not contain. 
 
For all these reasons, the Colombian trade confederations 
urge the United States Congress to not ratify the Free Trade 
Agreement that the governments of Colombia and the United 
States have negotiated. 
 
--Carlos Rodriguez Diaz 
      President CUT 
 
--Apecides Alvis Fernandez 
      President CTC 
 
 
--Jesus Ernesto Mendoza 
      President CPC 
 
End informal Embassy translation of letter. 
DRUCKER