Representing more than a million Canadian workers
Ottawa (10 July 2008) - The national leaders of the four major public sector unions in Canada will visit Colombia July 18-25 to meet with union leaders, politicians, diplomats, human rights groups and others. Their mission is to assess the human rights situation in Colombia.
The visit will allow the leaders to examine first-hand the problems that afflict the South American country, especially given the current government’s human rights record and concerns about the recent free trade agreement with Canada.
The group includes national union presidents: Paul Moist of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Denis Lemelin of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW), John Gordon of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) and George Heyman, international vice-president of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).
The group will stop in Bogota, Medellin and Cali as well as some rural destinations to visit indigenous communities. One of the main purposes of the tour will be to assess the impact of Colombian government policies on various sectors, especially the public sector.
The four leaders will also attend the final meetings of the Permanent People’s Tribunal on Colombia in Bogota on July 21-23. The tribunal has been holding hearings on human rights violations. Since April 2006, the tribunal has held hearings on six sectors of the economy: food production, mining, biodiversity, oil, public services and the genocide of indigenous peoples.
The leaders will also discuss the impact of the new free trade agreement with Colombia and continued pressure to privatize Colombian public services. NUPGE
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