USTR, Advocacy Group Spar Over Labor Reform in Colombia FTA
U.S. textile and fabric exports to Colombia have increased by 28 percent to $98 million in the two years since the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Promotion Agreement took effect, said the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) in a May 15 release. U.S. companies also increased processed goods exports by 93 percent to $834 million through the agreement, it said.
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USTR Michael Froman praised market access under the agreement and vowed to press ahead with additional labor reform. “The Government of Colombia has made meaningful progress under the action plan, including a significant reduction in the use of illegal cooperatives, passage of new labor laws to strengthen worker’s rights protections, and increased hiring and training of police investigators and prosecutors to address violence against unionists,” said Froman in reference to the Labor Action Plan. “But much important work remains to solidify and build on this progress to improve respect for labor rights in Colombia.”
But the advocacy group Public Citizen chided USTR’s recognition of labor improvement in the country, claiming the 73 union workers killed since U.S. and Colombian officials initiated the action plan reflects endemic violence against labor activists. “Two years into the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, workers there are still literally putting their lives on the line if they seek basic labor rights,” said Communications Workers of America senior director George Kohl in a Public Citizen press release. “With this experience -- and that of all the other failed trade agreements -- we can see the Trans-Pacific Partnership for what it would do: kill American jobs while trampling on workers rights overseas.”