CUPE is encouraging all of our members to take part in a Public Services International (PSI) campaign to support municipal workers in the city of Cali, in Colombia.
First, the city of Cali fired 51 workers for joining a union. Then, it ignored court rulings and ILO decisions calling for the workers to get their jobs back. The union president has received repeated death threats, and eight other union members have been killed, as well as the union’s lawyer.
Since December 2011, five of the fired workers have been on hunger strike to continue to draw attention to the situation. They need our help.
CUPE has a long history of supporting workers and human rights organizations in Colombia. In 2008, CUPE National President Paul Moist visited Colombia. In 2009 Berenice Celeyta, the director of NOMADESC, a human rights organization based in Cali, spoke to the CUPE national convention. CUPE was also a prominent voice calling for an independent human rights assessment before entering in to trade agreements with Colombia.