Colombia: Oil palm plantation workers in Puerto Wilches on
strike
The municipality of Puerto Wilches,
located in the Central Zone defined by the Agricultural Plan for
the Implementation of the Biodiesel Programme, is home to much
of the agricultural activity in the department (province) of Santander.
According to the Agricultural Plan, there are roughly 21,000 hectares
of oil palm plantations in the municipality, representing 91.7%
of the department’s palm oil output.
Oil palm plantations invaded Puerto
Wilches, destroying the original wetland and tropical rainforest
vegetation, after large landholders succeeded in acquiring ownership
of the land. As the Agricultural Plan itself recognizes, the destruction
of these ecosystems “has had a direct influence on the extinction
of varieties of flora and fauna and on the decrease in water resources
which has modified the structure and composition of the soils.”
Despite the enormous cost involved,
the expansion of oil palm plantations in the region has not benefited
the residents of the area in any way. According to the 2005 census,
the rural region of North Santander presents low levels of socioeconomic
development, reflected in an Unsatisfied Basic Needs Index rating
of 45.4% – a figure that drops to 21.9% for the department of
Santander as a whole when urban areas are included. (1)
In December of 2002, we reported on
the abysmal working conditions on the oil palm plantations of
the region, as described by a representative of the oil palm sector
workers organization in the department of Santander (see WRM Bulletin
Nº 65).
There are approximately 5,000 oil palm
sector workers in the region, yet only 610 are directly employed
by the companies that own the plantations. The rest are members
of so-called work cooperatives, which pay an average of less than
120 dollars a month, far below the legal minimum wage. Workers
employed through cooperatives work for
up to 16 hours a day, must pay for their own working tools and
other equipment, and are charged stiff fines for picking unripe
or overripe fruit. They are not granted even such minimum rights
as pensions, health insurance or family allowances. The dramatic
situation they face is reminiscent of the conditions suffered
by Colombian workers when capitalism took hold in the country
in the first decades of the 20th century. (2)
On 30 January, 350 workers on the Monterrey
oil palm plantation in Puerto Wilches began a strike that quickly
spread to the rest of the plantations in the municipality. There
are now over 2,500 workers on strike against the Monterrey, Bucarelia,
Brisas, Agropalma and Agrícola del Norte companies. They are demanding
individual labour contracts, higher wages, and the elimination
of fines based on the quality of fruit picked. They are also demanding
that the companies pay for their transportation to and from the
plantations, food, work clothes and tools – costs that the workers
are currently obliged to cover themselves.
The oil palm industry workers and residents
of Puerto Wilches are calling on the Colombian government to take
responsibility for protecting the rights of the workers and ensuring
that they are paid decent salaries, because “they are ultimately
the ones who are generating wealth.”
During a community assembly in February,
the residents of Puerto Wilches resolved to call a civic strike
to show their support for the oil palm workers. The strike was
staged on 14 and 15 February, followed by a demonstration on 18
February. Both actions met with violent repression by public security
forces, as denounced by the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT)
trade union federation. (3)
As the Colombian human rights organization
Espacio de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras de Derechos Humanos reported
in a press release, “Social and trade union organizations in the
region have pointed out that the expansion of oil palm plantations
poses a threat to food security, because large concentrations
of oil palm trees impoverish the soil and inhibit the growth of
other types of vegetation. As a result, local residents pay a
high price for a crop that leaves very little wealth in their
municipality."
“The uprising has come at a time when
the quality of life of the workers is extremely poor, due to the
lack of workplace security. A worker died in 2007, apparently
because of agrochemicals that are handled without proper protective
gear. Working conditions are established through work cooperatives
that serve as subcontractors and intermediaries for the large
companies. ‘Outsourcing’ is a mechanism established by the state
to benefit employers, since it allows them to evade their responsibility
to provide employees with social security and benefits.” (http://colombia.indymedia.org/news/2008/02/80323.php)
CUT accuses the government of encouraging
outsourcing and promoting the legalization of work cooperatives,
temporary employment agencies and all other forms of precarious
employment that serve to cut labour costs and deprive workers
of their most basic rights. In a statement released on 21 February,
CUT stressed that this hiring model “has spread across the length
and breadth of our territory, sowing poverty and contributing
to the worsening of the difficult social and economic conditions
faced by the population.” (4)
Staged in defiance of threats against
trade union leaders and the use of tear gas to break up demonstrations,
despite the presence of children and pregnant women, the uprising
in Puerto Wilches is a milestone in the defence of the rights
of oil palm sector workers.
(1) General Census 2005, Unsatisfied
Basic Needs, National Statistics Department,
http://www.dane.gov.co/files/censo2005/nbi_censo2005.pdf
(2) Communiqué from the Press Office
of Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo, of the Polo Democrático Alternativo,
posted by Carlos A. Vicente, information officer for Latin America,
GRAIN, email: carlos@grain.org
(3) “Huelga de trabajadores de CTA en
Puerto Wilches”, CUT website,
http://www.cut.org.co//index.php?option=com_content&task
=view&id=955&Itemid=456
(4)
Press release from the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Colombia
(CUT), 21 February 2008,
http://www.abpnoticias.com/boletin_temporal/
contenido/comunicados/359.html
