Many of us had the opportunity to meet Jhon Jairo Castro over the last few weeks. Jhon Jairo is an Afro-Colombian longshoreman, labor activist and the President of the Port Workers Union in Buenaventura, Colombia. His recent visit to the West Coast to meet with unionists, students and activists was the beginning of a brave new journey for Colombian dockworkers. Witness For Peace has been organizing his speaking tour.
Witness for Peace is a non-profit watchdog group that keeps tabs on US trade agreements and foreign policy legislation in Central and South America. The organization formed in 1983 during the Nicaraguan Civil War to oppose and highlight war crimes committed by the Reagan backed Contras and have remained in the area to keep tabs on US foreign policy and the long list of human rights abuses our country has been implicit in. They have activists in many countries and film and document violence and abuses in order to put direct pressure on the US government. Colombia remains the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist and Jhon Jairo and Witness For Peace set out to organize grassroots awareness of their plight. Jhon Jairo and WFP organizers spoke with longshore workers in San Francisco, Vancouver, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle and spoke at colleges, community centers and union halls in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon.
The Port Workers Union in Colombia is only a recent development within the last ten or so years. It is a merger of the more progressive unionists from older and less effective unions. In the early 1990s the ports began to organize to curb the tide of anti-worker legislation coming from a new conservative government. When we hear about Colombia in this country, it is often about the “drug war” and cocaine. It is never about companies like Coca-Cola, Monsanto, and Chiquita lobbying for legislation to send US dollars to arm paramilitary groups to pave the way for US capital. It is certainly never about the targeted assassinations of trade union leaders, community activists and organizers. These armed groups that the US are aiding receive bonuses on a “per kill” basis, which has led to the killing of average civilians who are then dressed up in rebel, “guerilla” clothing. Entire executive union boards have been massacred all at the same time.
These truths are all but hidden from the world, which is why groups like Witness for Peace are so important and should be supported by all unions worth their salt. The talk now is of course about the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which the Obama Administration has been negotiating behind closed doors. These are just some of the realities of US Free Trade Agreements and like one of the WFP activists said at the meeting I attended, “these countries where we have a presence are testing grounds for future US trade policies.”
Hearing Jhon Jairo speak was like reading pages straight out of the ILWU’s pre-history. Company unions are set up in every trade. Independent contractors join these unions and work side by side with the Port Workers Union who are continually undermined which sounds a little bit like the current state of the Gulf Coast ports. But more so than that, the employers keep a massive pool of surplus labor, only giving work a couple times a month to each worker to keep them hungry and willing to work for low wages. Sounds like the shape up. Jhon Jairo said the wages we make on the docks in 2 hours, are what the average Colombian dockworker makes in a month. The skilled jobs, like crane operators are some of the few that have direct working contracts with the employers. The Port Workers Union is about 2000 strong. Jhon Jairo is the local president in Buenaventura, the largest port in Colombia controlling roughly two-thirds of all imports and exports.
The companies that own the ports are part of an organization called the Port Society, but they set up shell companies to deal with the workers so they are unable to bargain directly with the employer group. All of this sounds eerily reminiscent of the West Coast docks 80 years ago. Now factor in the UN statistics that close to 4000 trade unionists have been murdered in Colombia since 1986! That is not even including the thousands of other activists and community leaders slain as a direct result of US business interests and foreign policy. Jhon Jairo spoke intimately about what it means to be a trade unionist in Colombia. To the audience I participated in it almost seemed nonchalant the way he spoke about it, which made it all the more chilling. This is his daily life. He has to wear a bulletproof vest. Officers of his union have had to send their children away to the countryside as they continually receive threats against their lives and their families.
It is difficult to find much information about the Port Workers Union. They don’t have a website and it is difficult to track them down outside of human rights groups addressing the violence they endure. Part of this trip really brought to light the importance of getting their struggle out to the world. The internet, something we all take for granted is very expensive in Colombia. It does exist but it doesn’t have the same relevance to their social fabric like it does to us. Because of this, The Port Workers Union had never heard of the ILWU until very recently. They had no idea that just next door in Panama, this militant maritime union from the United States was organizing the canal pilots to keep the power of the shipping companies in check.
Cargo may change but the ships stay the same. We have strong alliances and coalitions with dockers around the world because we know that solidarity is the only thing that will keep the employers cargo from moving and when the cargo doesn’t move the employers are forced to play ball. Maritime unions around the world have a long history supporting one another and the ILWU has always been among the most shining examples. The Port Workers Union in Colombia is going up against brutal, violent repression, a weak government that can’t enforce its own labor laws, and rogue employers pitting worker against worker and using the constant threat of murder to intimidate unions from organizing.
The ILWU has a chance to strengthen our “rank-and-file, bottom-up brand” of industrial unionism in the region. How can we build this discussion in our locals? How do we get it to the international and our allies in the maritime unions and help to organize these workers? How could our direct support of these workers change the social dynamics of Columbia and the entire region? How about the implications to the worldwide union movement? How could a strong union presence in Colombia reinforce the new ILWU jurisdiction in Panama? They have reached out to us with an urgent desperation. They are looking for support and guidance. Will we answer the call?
www.witnessforpeace.org
P.S. The Dispatcher is printed in Spanish now, yes? And FedEx delivers to Colombia, right? Just an idea.
In Solidarity,
Brian Skiffington
ID Casual – Local 23
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