Positive end to Colombian sugar cane cutters' strike
Positive end to Colombian sugar cane cutters' strike
The President of Valle del Cauca CUT(Central Unitaria de Trabajadores), Alvaro Vega, has thanked the NTUC for its financial support for striking sugar cane cutters in Valle del Cauca, Southwest Colombia. 'The NTUC's support was vital in sustaining the strike and enabling us to take food hampers to the corteros and their families in the Maria Luisa sugar refinery. This is the last refinery still on strike, and the families are really struggling. We were able to delivery a hamper to all of the families through your generousity'.
After 70 days on strike, sugar cane cutters in Valle del Cauca, Southwest Colombia, were edging closer to agreements this week, bringing a truce to a conflict which paralyzed the Colombian sugar industry and marked the beginning of 2 months of civil protests and strikes across the country.
Modern Slavery
The corteros were striking over their gruelling, sub-human working conditions, commonly described as 'modern slavery'. Sugar cane companies have denied the workers even the most basic of human and labour rights through the use of agencies called co-operatives. Co-operatives were introduced to in casualise employment and achieve greater flexibility, maximizing the lucrative profits of the sugar companies. Because the workers are supposedly the owners of their own co-operatives, the companies claimed to have no responsibility towards the workers and as such the corteros didn't receive even the most basic labour protection contained in Colombian law.
Conditions included:
Pay of about £1.25 per ton of sugar cane cut. (The youngest and fittest workers can cut 4 tons per day - the average is 2.5 - 3 tons)
Working days of 12 hours or longer - in 35 degrees heat
No sick pay or paid holidays, even Sundays and public holidays were expected.
Police Aggression and smear campaign
The strike weighed heavily on the corteros and their families, who were kept going by their sheer determination to improve their living conditions. With tears in his eyes, one cortero told us that he was ready to die before breaking the strike because he couldn't take the life he was living any longer, 'this isn't life to me- going hungry for days, and hardly being able pay the rent and utilities'. They received an impressive amount of solidarity in the form of food and financial donations, both nationally and internationally from trade unions, universities, schools, companies, social movements and individual citizens. The TUC was one such organization, sending 2100 pounds to help buy food for the corteros and their families. The ultra-right wing government of Alvaro Uribe immediately sided with the sugar companies- first of all through repression and physical attacks by the army and the police, then by joining in the companies' smear campaign in claiming that the strike had been infiltrated by 'terrorists'.
The companies initially refused to negotiate, claiming that the strike was illegal because of character of the co-operative system. They then insisted on separate negotiations in each of the refineries, however the majority of the agreements were very similar. Whilst the primary demand of the corteros- direct contractation to sugar refineries- was not met in any of the refineries, a number of important advances were made, including:
A 12-13% increase in payment per ton of sugar cane cut.
No more obligatory Sunday or public holiday shifts. These days are now optional and will be paid time and a half.
New restrictions on working hours.
The corteros will now receive sickpay.
New funds for education, health and housing created by the companies for the workers.
Agreement that the companies will respect the autonomy of the co-operatives.
Companies will now pay for transport, uniforms and working equipment.
Aside from direct contractation, the corteros achieved all of their principal demands, an impressive vindication of a strike initially claimed to be illegal by the bosses and the government. The corteros'organizational process has also been strengthened- the 2 trade unions reported recruiting 5000 more members as a result of the strike. They are under no illusions about the struggle ahead- the agreements only last for 2 years- and are already preparing for the next conflict. As one cortero stated, 'the fight was postponed'.
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