BOGOTA: CUPE members Barbara Moore and Tracey Fall arrived in Bogota, Colombia on Saturday for the third phase of the Frontlines Tour.
The tour is bringing public sector unionists from Canada and Colombia together in a common fight against privatization. Partnering for this tour are CUPE, CUPW and PSAC. The ten union members will be in Colombia until November 14.
Moore, a member of CUPE 3912 (part time faculty at Dalhousie, St. Mary’s and Mount St. Vincent Universities in Nova Scotia), is also the co-chair of the CUPE National Global Justice Committee.
“It is amazing that so many unionists are on a hit list – so many lives have been lost here,” Moore said. “Privatization in Colombia is really a matter of life and death.”
“Already I’m amazed, really overwhelmed,” added Fall, a member of CUPE 3324 and a paramedic in Charlottetown, PEI. “I know I am going to learn so much from the people here. Just in the first day, I’ve seen a different side to what happens when public services are privatized.”
The participants in the tour will meet with public sector counterparts working in Colombia’s post office, municipal services and health care. They will also be meeting human rights activists such those working in a women’s organization that is providing support to women, and another organization helping victims of the paramilitaries.