Hope in Venezuela, fear in Colombia
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DECEMBER 1, 2006
Members of the Portland labor delegation meet with members of Manos
Amigas women’s sewing collective in Venezuela. The women are giving a 10-
finger salute of Hugo Chávez supporters, based on the goal of getting 10
million votes in the Dec. 3 election.
NW,
Zachary
Zabinsky
wear a shirt identifying you as a union
supporter. You keep quiet.”
The Portlanders met with a group of
flower plantation workers who recently
unionized, and visited a shanty town
populated by refugees who survived
paramilitary and guerrilla massacres.
“They didn’t want sympathy,” Parks
said. “They still had hope.”
Now that the delegation is back in
Portland, the real work begins, Bonham
said. Participants hope to forge endur-
ing relationships with unions in the two
countries, to exchange ideas and help
on campaigns at common employers
and struggles against job destroying
trade agreements.
Liberty
A delegation of eight Portland-area
unionists visited Venezuela and Colom-
bia for 10 days Nov. 9-20, meeting
union activists and coming to grips with
what life is like for workers in those
countries.
They found unions surging in num-
bers and power in the Venezuela of pop-
ulist paratrooper Hugo Chávez, while in
neighboring Colombia, assassinations
and death threats are on the verge of
driving unions underground.
The group will give a public report
on their experience at 7 p.m. Tuesday,
Dec. 5, at the Carpenters Local 247 hall,
2215 N. Lombard St.
The trip, organized by the Portland-
based Cross Border Labor Organizing
Council, drew participation from a
cross-section of local labor organiza-
tions: Fair Contracting Foundation Ex-
ecutive Director Daniel Bonham; AF-
SCME Local 88 secretary Michael
Hanna; International Longshore and
Warehouse Union Local 8 member Pe-
ter Parks; Service Employees Local 503
political action committee chair Rosalie
Pedroza; ILWU Local 4 Vice President
Robert Poppe; SEIU field coordinator
Lorene Scheer; Association of Western
Pulp and Paperworkers organizer
Stephen Toff; and Parkrose High School
teacher and Oregon Education Associa-
tion member May Wallace. Most were
fluent or at least competent in Spanish,
but translation was provided.
The group spent five days in Caracas,
Venezuela, and six days in Bogotá,
Colombia.
They found Venezuela in the grip of
an exploding social movement. The
country’s oil wealth was for generations
locked up in the hands of an economic
elite, while most Venezuelans just got
by. But a 1998 electoral sweep by
Chávez, a former army officer, changed
the politics of the country. Chávez and
his party rewrote Venezuela’s constitu-
tion, which won 72 percent approval in a
popular referendum. It enshrines the
right to education, employment, hous-
ing, health care and a clean environ-
ment, dedicates Venezuela’s oil wealth
to educating and improving the lives of
the poor, and spells out detailed rights
for workers, including a maximum 44-
hour workweek, paid vacation and the
right to form unions, bargain collectively
and strike.
In response to the sweeping changes,
many of the country’s rich and middle
class fought back energetically, even
backing a coup d’etat in 2002 that failed
when Chávez supporters in the military
defended the elected government. Today
the conflict continues by non-violent
means, but Chávez retains majority sup-
port and is expected to win a second six-
year term in a Dec. 3 election.
The Portland delegation met with
both supporters and critics of the Chávez
administration but came away im-
pressed with the gains workers have
made since his election.
“It gives me a lot of hope to see
workers taking so much charge of their
own destiny in Venezuela,” said Bon-
ham, whose group defends Oregon’s
construction industry prevailing wage
laws. “I would very much like to see that
kind of spirit and enthusiasm in the labor
movement here.”
After five days in Venezuela, Colom-
bia was a shock to the system, said
CBLOC organizer Daniel Denvir, who
accompanied the delegation.
Colombia has suffered 40 years of
civil war, with left-wing guerrilla groups
battling right-wing paramilitary forces
and the Colombian military. Union or-
ganizers, marked as leftists by paramili-
taries, face constant threat of being shot
or dragged from their homes, never to
reappear. Colombia is considered the
most dangerous country in the world for
union organizers.
Two supporters of a teachers union
were murdered just before several lead-
ers met with the delegation.
The Portland delegation met with the
U.S. embassy’s labor attaché, asking
about those killed, but came away with
the impression it was a low priority. The
U.S. has long given aid to the Colom-
bian military, despite periodic evidence
that the military collaborates with the
paramilitary groups that human rights
groups say are committing most of the
country’s atrocities.
“In Colombia, you don’t talk about
politics,” said Parks, a Portland dock
worker and union activist. “You don’t
Saif Corporation, Wausau, Washington Dept. of Labor & Industries, Liberty NW, Hartford, Sedgewick, Traveler's Ins.
A Portland labor delegation
finds two neighboring
nations that could hardly
be more different for
workers rights
Serving unions for over 25 years
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 7