Oct 13, 2011
Following House passage of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement on Wednesday night, CWA expressed deep disappointment that Congress choose to ignore the country's gross abuses of workers' rights and the deadly violence against people who fight for unionization.
Oct 13, 2011
After voting the wrong way on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, the House of Representatives did the right thing by joining the Senate in extending trade adjustment assistance to workers hurt by foreign trade.
Oct 12, 2011
The House of Representatives has passed the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, rewarding those who abuse workers' rights.
Oct 11, 2011
The Communications Workers of America today released "As Goes Avianca: How One Company Represents the Problems and Challenges of the Colombia Free Trade Agreement & the Action Plan on Labor Rights." The case study outlines the challenges that go unaddressed by the proposed agreement's Labor Action Plan by looking at the actions of the Colombian-based airline as they relate to it.
Oct 6, 2011
CWA is urging Congress to reject the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, saying the badly flawed deal effectively endorses an economic and legal system that is designed to block workers' collective bargaining rights and workplace protections.
Oct 4, 2011
The Colombia Free Trade Agreement is flawed and should not be approved by Congress.
Sep 23, 2011
The Washington Office on Latin America's Gimena Sanchez reports on Colombia's Labor Action Plan. "Twenty-two trade unionists have been murdered so far in 2011, with ten of them killed after the April 15 announcement of the LAP. Death threats and efforts to discredit labor activists also continue. The rate of impunity in cases of murdered trade unionists remains extremely high at 94 percent."
Aug 25, 2011
Following revelations that Colombia may have misused U.S. government aid to probe and undermine the activities of labor leaders and union activists, CWA President Larry Cohen and United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard are calling on the House Select Intelligence Committee to investigate the matter.
Aug 24, 2011
In a letter to Rep. Jan Schakowsky, CWA and the United Steelworkers ask for the congresswoman's help in bringing about a House Committe Investigation into possible misuse of U.S. aid in Colombia.
Jul 14, 2011
From protecting Medicare to opposing the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, stopping voter suppression and battling state attacks on workers' rights, resolutions that CWA convention delegates passed this week had a central theme: Taking action and continuing to build a broad-based movement to fight back.
Jul 1, 2011
House Democrats' opposition is growing against a Colombian free-trade agreement that doesn't include language ensuring the protection of workers' rights. Rep. John Larson (Conn.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus and a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, joined the growing chorus on Thursday actively opposing the trade deal if the Obama administration and congressional Republicans aren't willing to add the labor action plan language, which outlines steps the Colombian government has to take to improve workers' rights, to the accord.
Jul 1, 2011
Senate Republicans have temporarily blocked a first step in taking up three long-stalled trade agreements just hours before they were set to be considered. The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a “mock” markup Thursday afternoon of pending trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, along with a renewal of expired Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) benefits for workers.
Jun 21, 2011
The NLRB proposes changes to end some of the delay that drags out representation elections for months and even years.
May 12, 2011
Some tea party organizations have been quietly trading notes with left-leaning advocacy groups as both sides work to derail a series of upcoming free-trade agreements. Together, they hope to deliver what one opponent of the deals described as a “one-two punch” to proposed trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea. As liberal groups and labor unions lobby Democrats, tea party members have been calling the Republican freshmen they helped elect.
May 12, 2011
Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) said Wednesday that he expects Congress could take a June vote on the Colombian free trade agreement. Colombia is expected to complete its second batch of labor-related issue requirements by June 15, reaching a point at which the Obama administration will be prepared to formally submit the accord to Congress for a vote, Baucus said.
May 12, 2011
A top senator said on Wednesday he expected Congress to soon pass a free trade agreement with Colombia despite the continued strong opposition of the largest U.S. labor group. "We are now poised to approve our FTAs (free trade agreements) with Colombia, Panama and Korea," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus said during a hearing on the Colombia agreement.
May 12, 2011
The Obama administration and Congress moved a step closer toward completing the long-delayed Colombia Free Trade Agreement last week by beginning informal discussions on implementing language, but at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Wednesday, a top administration trade official studiously avoided giving any date for submitting the agreement for ratification.
May 12, 2011
The Obama administration has not given labor groups an opportunity to review the documents that Colombia submitted last month to show it met an initial set of commitments under a labor action plan meant to pave the way for a vote on the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement in Congress, sources said.
May 12, 2011
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Tuesday that his labor federation will likely score lawmakers’ votes on three pending trade deals that the Obama administration is backing. Labor leaders, typically staunch Democratic allies, have been angered by the White House’s push for congressional approval of trade agreements with Colombia, Panama and South Korea this year. With the nation’s largest labor federation planning to record members’ votes on the deals, it could make it more difficult for President Obama to secure Democratic votes for these agreements.
Apr 7, 2011
In Colombia, just 100,000 workers out of 20 million have bargaining rights.
CWA President Larry Cohen on MSNBC’s The ED Show
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