Uribe celebrates the decision of the ILO of taking Colombia out of the vigilance list

“IF WE WORK TOGETHER, WE CAN OBTAIN BIG GOALS TO THE NATION”

• Vice Minister of Labor Relationships said that from 21 years ago, Colombia were on the list.

Bogotá, 2 jun. (SNE).- The President Alvaro Uribe Velez celebrated today the decision of the International Labor Organization (ILO) of retire Colombia from the list of countries under special vigilance, and indicated that with this, the country will obtain new goals if all the people work together.

The decision was made in Geneva (Switzerland) by the Norms Application Commission during the 95 International Labor Conference and was taken due to an agreement made by the National Government officials, workers and employers, and it will be ratified next week during the Administration Board meeting.

At the beginning of the National Police promotion ceremony, the Chief of State made the following statement:

“I celebrate that our Nation has been took off from that list of the International Labor Organization. Our gratitude to the Vice-president, to the Social Protection Minister, to the business leaders, to the union leaders. We can see that if we work together, we can obtain big goals for the Nation.

¿What’s next?. Now we have to show to the entire world that here in Colombia we are able to effectively protect our union leaders. We made some improvement but we have to achieve the goal of having cero assassinations of union representatives

¿What’s next?. To build a fraternal Nation, Christian in the relationships between workers and employers, as soon as the Social Protection Minister comes back from Geneva, we are going to have a conversation with the employers and with the workers to make a Social Pact so the temporal workers could have a permanent job.

It’s a good step, but it’s a long stair what is next”.

21 YEARS ON THE LIST

The Vice minister of Labor Relations, Jorge León Sánchez, said from Geneva from 21 years ago Colombia was on the list and was called to exam by the Norms Application Board of the ILO.

“It represented an attention call to our country and implicated explanations to other leaders in the world, not only by workers but also and by employers. That affected our image and most of all, remembered to us that we were in the wrong track”, he said.

“However, is demonstrated that is possible to make agreements, is possible to make some consensus, even though the differences. And the conflicts can be solved in the best possible way with dialogue and compromise”.

The agreement was signed by the National Government, the employers and the workers and has five basic points:

- A permanent representative from the ILO will be in Colombia to promote technical cooperation and work in the search of decent work, including the promotion of the workers rights, their labor union members, labor union freedom of association, expression, collective negotiation and freedom of company.

- The Government will work to find economic support to guarantee the fulfillment of the planned goals. Also the ILO request to contribute with international support.

- Both parts agreed to follow the results of the special investigation group created by the Nation General Attorney for the clearing up and the punishment of crime against the life and the freedom of the labor union chiefs and their workers.

- The government, businessmen and workers are committed to impulse and materialize the ILO postulates in function of the fundamentals work rights. To obtain this the National Concentration of Work and Wage Board will come together with ideas of permanent work and participation of the ILO.

EFFECTS

The Vice minister Sánchez said that this kind of agreement will improve the productivity and competitivity of the Colombians businessman, also it will be good to build strongest rights and to improve the workers wage.

“This decision is decisive to continue with the strengthening of the commercial relations between Colombia and other countries, to put the country in a more comfortable way, the possibility to be part of the new commerce of the world. The agreement invites to fortalice the international cooperation programs”.

The official also said that the goal of the National Government is to consolidate the formal work, with more quality, health rights, education, pension and professionals risk.

“The Government goals must continue with the work formalization as a way to find poverty decrease in Colombia. We believe that this is not the final destination, instead the start point to bigger goals”, said the Vice minister.