Marking the five-year anniversary of the Colombian Action Plan Related to Labor Rights, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and Department of Labor on Monday issued a progress report, citing improvements and deficiencies.
The report finds that there has been meaningful progress across a number of areas, including a decline in fake worker cooperatives that undermine workers’ rights, a reduction in violence against labor unionists and a doubling of the number of labor inspectors in Colombia’s Ministry of Labor.
The report also shows there are challenges remaining that the Colombian government is working to address. Notably, in recent years, as the government of Colombia has taken action against illegal cooperatives, there has been increasing abuse of other kinds of subcontracting, the report noted.
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In response, President Juan Manuel Santos and Minister of Labor Luis Eduardo Garzon issued a presidential decree to help inspectors investigate and apply potentially significant fines to employers that use such other forms of subcontracting to violate labor rights, the report noted. This decree is an important step forward and if properly enforced, could have a significant impact on the ground for workers.
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“The Labor Action Plan has given us a critical framework to engage Colombia on labor issues that, at one time, were written off as intractable, such as the issue of illegal subcontracting,” said Ambassador Michael Froman. “At the time the plan was developed, a key issue was fake cooperatives. As Colombia cracked down on that, other forms began to take their place. We’ve been able to keep working with Colombia on this and now there is a new decree to address the more recent forms of abusive subcontracting. We are committed to continuing to work with Colombia on implementation, bringing us closer to a level playing field for workers both in Colombia and in this country.”
The U.S. imported about 45 million square meter equivalents in apparel and textiles for the year ended Feb. 29. The U.S. exported a combined $28 million worth of apparel and textiles to Colombia in 2015, primarily fabric and yarn.
In the context of congressional consideration of the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement, which went into effect in 2012, the Obama administration negotiated the Action Plan with the government of Colombia to address critical labor issues. These issues included violence against trade union members and leaders, and impunity for these acts, as well as protection of core labor rights.
The two governments signed the Action Plan on April 7, 2011, and since then the Obama administration has worked closely with Colombia to implement the plan. USTR and the DOL, in coordination with the State Department, will continue to coordinate with Colombian labor authorities on ongoing issues under the plan, including through the efforts of a new Labor Attaché who was stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá in 2015 to directly support these efforts on the ground, the agencies said in releasing the report.