ICFTU ONLINE...

Brussels, 28 September 1998 (ICFTU OnLine): Hundreds of thousands of Colombian civil servants went on strike on Wednesday and Thursday to protest at recently elected President Andres Pastrana’s austerity programme. The 48-hour strike, called by the three national trade union centres (CTC, CUT and CGTD) and the pensioners confederation, paralysed the country’s courts, schools and hospitals. Essential services such as emergency hospital services, telecommunications and oil production were not affected by the strike.

The trade unions are calling for pay rises which take into account the 18.5 per cent inflation announced by the central bank, contrary to the wishes of the government which wanted to keep it below 14 per cent.

The trade unions are also demanding that the government maintains low interest rates and abandons plans to introduce 15 per cent VAT on certain basic food products. The trade unions are also opposed to the governments’ wish to slim down the public services. Unemployment is already at 18.5 per cent, the highest in 20 years, and trade union leaders believe that any loss of public sector jobs will only feed the growing social unrest and leave many families in a desperate situation.

The government is calling on the Colombian people to be patient and recalls the deficit it inherited from former President Ernesto Samper. The Finance Minister, Juan Camilo Restrepo, has also tried to justify the austerity plan by pointing to the world financial crisis and the increasing cost of foreign capital which has made the financing of any deficit by foreign capital particularly difficult.

The trade unions will not be swayed and warn that the 48 hour strike could be followed by an unlimited country-wide stoppage if the government does not abandon its fiscal adjustment plan. Trade union leaders say they understand the government’s need for serious fiscal corrections but do not accept that it should be the workers who bear the brunt of these measures. The workers are already suffering from double-figure inflation and rising interest rates and should not have to make further sacrifices, particularly given the corruption scandals of the last four years. A Gallup poll published this week in a weekly paper seems to confirm this feeling. 92 per cent of Colombians questioned are not prepared to make personal sacrifices to support the economy.

The ICFTU sent a letter to the Colombian president yesterday expressing its full support for the strikers. The ICFTU invites President Pastrana to open dialogue with the national trade union centres and civil service unions to reach agreement on pay rises that take into account inflation and to avoid raising the price of essential commodities, which would inevitably further aggravate the situation of the poorest sectors of Colombian society, already hard hit by the economic crisis. The ICFTU also hoped that during the demonstrations the police would show an attitude worthy of a society that claims to be democratic.

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)
Boulevard Emile Jacqmain 155, B - 1210 Brussels, Belgium. For more information
please contact: Luc Demaret on: 00 322 224 0212 - press@icftu.org

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