Cali Union Halts Privatization

No Extra Rate Increases

The pact guarantees no rate increases during 2002 above the 6% already established in Emcali's budget; and a public hearing on the company's financial situation and alleged corruption. In addition, the agreement guarantees there will be no reprisals or docking of pay against workers who took part in the protest. Some 600 Emcali workers, their faces covered with ski-masks, had been occupying the CAM tower since Dec. 25 in what the union termed a "permanent people's assembly."

Strike Background

A tentative consensus agreement reached on Jan. 14 set the framework for the final accord, but failed to settle the conflict. By Jan. 21, negotiations had brought agreement on eight of Sitraemcali's 10 demands. On Jan. 24 thousands of Emcali workers and supporters blockaded three major roads linking Cali to the rest of the country for six hours. On Jan. 25, Cali mayor Jhon Maro Rodriguez announced that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had called for a Jan. 28 armed strike to shut down the southwestern region of Colombia, which includes Cali. Charging that the FARC action was linked with a municipal civic strike Sintraemcali was planning for the same day, Rodriguez declared martial law, dispatched army troops throughout the city, and announced that the Sintraemcali occupation would end on Jan. 28--through negotiations or force. Sintraemcali immediately postponed its municipal civic strike and denied any links with armed groups.

Streets Blocked

On Jan. 28 Emcali workers blocked the streets around the CAM with parked vehicles while thousands more workers gathered outside the tower in support. The same day in Bogota, a busload of Sintraemcali workers joined Bogota-based water and telecommunications workers--more than 100 people in all--in a 13-hour occupation of the Superintendency of Public Services. Supporters gathered outside; riot police surrounded the building in an effort to end the occupation.

Final Agreement Called a Total Victory

In a Jan. 30 message titled "We covered our faces to make them see us," Sintraemcali called the final agreement a "total victory" in "one of the strongest struggles in history against privatization, globalization and the neoliberal model." Sintraemcali dedicated the victory to the 155 union leaders murdered in Colombia last year. [Colombia Report 1/28/02, published by Information Network of the Americas (INOTA); Equipo Nizkor/Derechos Human Rights/Serpaj Europa Informacion 1/31/02; Caracol 1/29/02; El Tiempo (Bogota) website 1/28/02; El Pais (Cali) 1/30/02; Article by Mario Novelli (labournet.net) via colombia.indymedia.org; Articles by Julio Echeverry 1/25/02, 1/28/02 via Colombia Indymedia; Sintraemcali message 1/30/02] From the Weekly News Update on the Americas (ISSN 1084-922X), published by the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of Greater New York, 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012, 212-674-9499, wnu@igc.org.