NELSON BERRIO REYES
Permanent Assemblymember of the Civil Society for Peace
During the 36 days of the strike, the oil workers, affiliated with the union USO of Colombia, displayed great strength and creativity in preventing EcoPetrol from being eliminated by the erratic policies of the current government. This workers' resistance, first seen in Barrancabermeja, very quickly awakened sympathy and solidarity within the social sectors. The student protests, the forums held in different cities of the country and the May 18th national general strike against the ALCA and the FTAA were, to a great extent, encouraged by the example of the strikers who demonstrated that, even in the most adverse situations, it is possible to rise up and fight.
Continue reading "A political and democratic strike" »
On the EcoPetrol Strike*
Álvaro Delgado
Cinep Researcher
The most novel aspect of the EcoPetrol strike is that it has exploded at perhaps the most difficult time for its union, The Joint Workers’ Union (Unión Sindical Obrera): the splitting of the company into three separate entities, with the corresponding loss of political and financial autonomy; the general weakness of the Colombian union movement; and the similar loss of a popular solidarity atmosphere traditionally accompanying actions by the oil workers.
You might think that, in the 50-year history of EcoPetrol, there could not have been a more inappropriate time to launch a labor battle. But, paradoxically, this is not an attempt for such a struggle. Additionally, the EcoPetrol unionists, according to a top union leader, had no choice. Not going on strike would have been even worse. The political leaders of the workers’ world learned this long ago: if wage workers (the ‘proletarians’ of Marx and Engels) do not confront capitalist offenses, the social movement would simply disappear. If wage-workers do not demand wage increases (supposedly leading to a rise in prices that would neatly cancel out the wage increases), they are never going to understand and witness the value of social struggle.
Continue reading "EcoPetrol strike" »
