IN JULY, as a Unison member, I took part in a trade union delegation to Colombia organised by the campaign organisation, Justice for Colombia (JFC). The aim was to develop understanding and campaigning on issues around peace, trade union rights, human rights, and social justice in Colombia.

The delegation of seven trade unionists continued longstanding work undertaken in the north-west England region, where JFC North West hosts regular events in solidarity with Colombia.

Colombia has a complicated political history, as decades of armed conflict resulted in one of the world’s longest-running civil wars.

Colombia is also the most dangerous country to be a trade unionist: thousands have been killed since 1989 and many more intimidated, threatened and displaced.

The armed conflict is a direct result of deep-rooted social and political issues, with high numbers of Colombians forced to subsist in poverty, particularly in rural areas.

Guerilla movements emerged in response to oligarchic violence, which historically obstructed any peaceful ways of addressing the brutal conditions facing civil society.

While in Colombia, what struck me most, both in cities and rural areas, was the sharp contradictions that exist. It is a place of immense resistance and struggle against a backdrop of a hyper-capitalist system that has produced huge inequality.

Petro’s total Peace/security

In November 2016, following four years of negotiations in Havana, the largest guerilla organisation, the Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), signed a peace agreement that covered political participation, the voluntary laying down of arms, a truth commission and a transitional justice system.

This was a historic step towards peace in Colombia. However, as we heard repeatedly in meetings with human rights and peace organisations, over 421 former Farc members in have been assassinated since entering the peace process. 

The agreement was badly neglected under the 2018-22 ultra-right government of Ivan Duque but since then Colombia’s first progressive president, Gustavo Petro, has promoted a policy known as Total Peace that seeks dialogue with active armed groups over ending conflict, as well as reinforcing implementation of the 2016 peace deal. However, two years into the Petro government, right-wing forces and state institutions that are outside progressive control have impeded the pro-peace agenda. Significantly, this has preserved the causes of violence rooted in social and economic factors.

Social and labour reforms

On the first day, we met the CUT, Colombia’s largest trade union confederation, representing 700,000 workers. A key takeaway was that, while the government seeks to advance the democratic will of voters, it lacks the necessary power.

Although Petro’s coalition, the Historic Pact, won the June 2022 presidential elections, political influence still lies in institutions such as the army, the police, the corporate media and the Supreme Court, where the political right retains significant control.

In the National Congress, the Historic Pact lacks a majority, leaving Petro reliant on traditional parties to support much-needed social reforms.

Millions of workers in Colombia are on insecure contracts with job insecurity and low pay. Anti-union violence and harsh legislation means that trade union membership is very low. Colombia is home to one of the world’s least unionised and most exploited workforces. The Historic Pact wants to address this situation through its social reform packages.

However, these social reforms have met hostile opposition in congress. The CUT told us about difficulties facing the healthcare reform, which seeks to restructure the highly neoliberal health system and vastly expand access. Pro-business elements of the opposition want to preserve the private sector’s role in healthcare and have blocked the reform. 

According to the CUT, similar obstacles face the Petro government’s attempts to advance the labour reform. Opposition pressure caused the removal of articles relating to fundamental trade union principles around the right to strike and collective bargaining, an act the CUT called an attack on democracy. 

More positively, the pension reform has been passed. At around 2.6 million retirees, the reform covers a far higher number of people than previously qualified for a pension, which was only one in every four workers. It will be administered through a state fund and alleviate poverty for many retired people, whose working lives were blighted by insecure work, low pay and precarity and who could not access a pension until now.

In rural areas, land reform is a key issue to tackle the impact of conflict on working people. For trade unionists, the peace process is a key priority, as peace cannot advance without addressing structural inequality. The social reforms are therefore vital to peacebuilding. 

Cali: The Capital of Resistance 

We visited Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, to meet young people who took part in 2021’s massive protests against the Duque government’s tax reform proposals that sought to further squeeze an already struggling working class.

As Cali became the protest epicentre, earning the nickname “the Capital of Resistance,” police committed horrific violence, killing over 40 unarmed protesters and disappearing others. As a young trade unionist, stories of young people being killed simply for struggling for a fairer society struck a chord with me and strengthened my resolve to struggle for peace and a fairer society in Britain. 

Why this concerns us as trade unionists

The trade unionists, peace activists and former guerilla combatants who our delegation met with were clear that the causes of violence must be addressed, as civil war has been born out of capitalism and imperialism.

Trade unionism is not only about improving our own working conditions in Britain but fundamentally changing society and challenging the basis of our exploitation. In the same vein, our struggle here is not separate from the class struggle internationally.

Issues such as peace for all workers should be at the forefront of our political agenda. Solidarity with all those working for peace in Colombia is paramount to our struggle in Britain. That is why the trade union movement here must continue supporting the campaign work of Justice for Colombia. Peace in Colombia is an important step to peace worldwide.