September 2010 visit of Colombian trade unionist Alirio Garcia organised by Justice for Colombia with support from the Nick Burdon & Denis Blockley Memorial Trust Fund
Alirio Garcia arrived in the UK the weekend before TUC Congress began and travelled up to Manchester to attend Congress on the Sunday. Below is an outline of the meetings and other activities that he participated in both during Congress and afterwards in Cardiff and London.
Monday 13th September
During the day Alirio held meetings with several trade union delegations and others that were attending TUC Congress. These included the TSSA delegation (led by the General Secretary and President), the GMB delegation (led by their General Secretary), a small number from the NASUWT delegation (led by their General Secretary), the EIS delegation (led by their General Secretary and President) and a small number from the ATL delegation (including their General Secretary and President).
During these discussions, Alirio updated them on the trade union situation in Colombia – during the first 6 months of this year, already 32 trade unionists had been killed. He also raised the issue of his wife’s detention. Alirio’s wife, Rosalba Gaviria is a trade union activist who has been imprisoned for over 18 months without trial.
In the evening, Alirio was invited to speak at the CWU reception, where he thanked colleagues for their solidarity and called on people to campaign for trade union rights in Colombia and for the freedom of Colombia’s political prisoners – including the case of his wife. CWU General Secretary Billy Hayes, who recently visited Colombia, introduced Alirio to Ed Balls MP as well as to numerous CWU delegates. Again, he updated these people as to the situation in Colombia and answered lots of questions.
That evening he also attended the Unite reception, where he met with Unite delegates, activists and officials including several NEC members, NEC Chair Tony Woodhouse and Joint General Secretary Tony Woodley. At these meetings it was made clear that the Fund had sponsored Alirio’s visit so it may be worth the Fund following up with some of them.
Tuesday 14th September
Today, Alirio was the key speaker at the Justice for Colombia fringe meeting, which over 100 delegates attended. Alirio’s speech was very well received, and letters to his wife were written by several delegates which were then translated by JFC staff and have since been delivered to Rosalba in prison. Alirio spoke of the importance of international solidarity and thanked the UK trade union movement for helping to secure his own freedom after he had spent seven months unjustly imprisoned in Colombia during 2009. The Chair of the fringe meeting (NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear) thanked the fund for supporting Alirio’s visit.
Later in the day Alirio met with members of the UCATT delegation (led by their General Secretary), the UCU delegation (led by their General Secretary) and the FBU delegation (led by their General Secretary). As with the meetings the day before Alirio updated them and answered questions.
In the evening Alirio attended the reception put on by education trade unions where he was asked to say a few words about the issues facing teacher trade unionists in Colombia (it is the most dangerous place in the world for teachers).
Wednesday 15th September
During the day, Alirio held meeting with several other trade union delegations at Congress including Napo (led by their General Secretary) and the RMT delegation (led by their General Secretary). In addition he also met with TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber and subsequently with members of the TUC international department with whom he discussed ways of increasing awareness of the situation facing trade unionists in Colombia.
In the afternoon Alirio had a long meeting with representatives of the Unite Food, Drink and Tobacco sector including sector EC member Ivan Monckton, National Officer Ian Waddell and several lay activists. A broad discussion about challenges facing workers in the sector both in Colombia and the UK was followed by a conversation about specific ways in which members of Unite and members of FENSUAGRO (Alirio’s union) might improve communications and build solidarity links.
Thursday 16th September
In the morning, Alirio travelled from Manchester to Cardiff, where he was the guest speaker at a public meeting hosted by UNISON Wales. Other speakers included Unite NEC member Ivan Monckton, Bridgend Labour MP Madeleine Moon, Wales TUC President Sian Wiblin and former Welsh First Minister Rhodri Morgan.
The meeting was well attended, including by several Unite members from Cardiff, and several concrete actions resulted including ways in which trade unionists in Wales could increase their solidarity work with Colombian unions and in favour of Colombia’s political prisoners. In the late afternoon Alirio travelled back to London and went to rest in his hotel.
Friday 17th September
During the morning Alirio met with the Colombia team at Amnesty International, in order to discuss both the ongoing attacks on his trade union and the specific case of his wife’s imprisonment. Amnesty agreed to investigate both issues and to press the Colombian authorities to provide further security guarantees to members of his union.
In the afternoon Alirio met officials from the Foreign Office including Simon Harkin (Head of South America) and Liz Younger (Head of Andean Team) in order to request that the UK Government does more to support human and trade union rights in Colombia. In particular he asked the Foreign Office to consider speaking out on behalf of Colombia’s political prisoners (something which they have so far been silent on) and to condemn the Colombian Government for their ongoing killings of trade unionists (again, something that they have so far refused to do).
In the evening Alirio travelled to the CWU Education Centre at Alvescot in Oxfordshire.
Saturday 18th September
Alirio spoke to a gathering of approximately 100 trade unionists, mainly CWU members but also from other unions, including Unite, before they set off on a sponsored cycle ride to raise funds for international solidarity projects. He also met with members of the CWU Education Team and it was agreed that future CWU courses would include an element about Colombia in them.
At lunchtime he travelled back to London where he spent the afternoon sightseeing. His flight back to Colombia was extremely early the following morning.
Overview/Outcomes of Visit:
Overall, Alirio’s visit to the UK was hugely successful. Commitments were made by various trade unions to send letters protesting the ongoing detention of his wife, Rosalba Gaviria, and to protest against the ongoing death threats received by Alirio and other trade union activists in Colombia. As a direct result of his visit, several trade union regions agreed to adopt the case of Rosalba to campaign on.
Discussions were held with GMB and Unite about possible future solidarity projects for FENSUAGRO (Alirio’s union), including projects to assist the union’s organising work and their human rights department.
The issue of the assassination and imprisonment of Colombian trade unionists was highlighted with many trade unionists during his visit, and the profile of the Colombian trade union movement’s struggle to defend their labour and human rights was raised substantially as a result of the visit.
Justice for Colombia would like to thank the Fund for making Alirio’s visit possible and look forward to working with you again at some point in the future to: a) help increase solidarity links between the Colombian and UK trade union movements, and b) to further awareness of the appalling situation faced by our colleagues in Colombia – both outcomes that, thanks to the support of the Fund, resulted from Alirio’s visit.