Los Corteros: The Plight of Colombian Sugarcane Cutters
In early September over 10,000 sugar cane cutters in Valle del Cauca went on strike to demand improved working conditions. Sugarcane from Valle del Cauca, Colombia goes towards sugar production (both domestic and for export) as well as biofuels. The sugar industry in Valle del Cauca, like that of Brazil, is labor-intensive and has extremely poor working conditions. Sugarcane cutters (known as corteros) report various labor rights violations:
Sub-minimum wage salaries. The minimum wage in Colombia is about $230 a month and it is estimated by the trade union federations in Colombia that it takes at least double the minimum wage to provide the basic needs of the average Colombian family.
Extremely long hours:Corteros report that they work seven days a week, usually 12-16 hour shifts, with no paid vacation or holidays. As one worker said in an interview with WFP, “we are modern-day slaves”.
No right to organize: As in many other sectors in Colombia, cooperativas or subcontracting agencies are used instead of directly contracting their workers. This means that even workers that have been working in the sugar industry for five, ten, or even twenty years all receive short term contracts and are treated as temp workers without access to retirement or healthcare. Also, if workers try to organize a union the management threatens not to renew their short-term labor contracts. As one worker noted, “now we don’t have any access to retirement….how are we going to pay for our graves?
Due to their exercising of their right to strike, these workers have received threats from illegal armed groups as well as state repression: in September striking workers were attacked with tear gas by riot police and over 20 of them were beaten by the states armed forces. Earlier this month, the wives of the various corteros decided to hold a protest in support of their husbands and were met with tear gas and attacks by the riot police.
The Colombian government and ASOCANA (the sugarcane industry’s representatives) have refused to negotiate and instead have continually intimidated these workers that have been on strike for a month. Reports from the ground indicate that in recent weeks the police have illegally detained various worker leaders.
Many Colombian organizations working with the corteros have noted that international pressure is the only thing that has kept the Colombian government from further attacking workers. Yet on October 15th, the President’s Security Department (DAS) deported two French men who were accompanying the striking workers in what appears to be an attempt to keep international observers away from this labor dispute.
After one month of striking, these workers and their families are trying to remain strong despite the repression by the Colombian government. Due to the low wages many of these workers have little or no savings, meaning that after one month of striking, many families are left without enough money to even buy their food.
Los Corteros and the FTA “The FTA is looking for cheap labor. The economy of the U.S. is so much larger than ours…how are we going to compete? The U.S. should think about the problems that workers and their families are facing,” a cortero explained. Many corteros report that the conditions were not always this bad, “the working conditions are not like they were before. Now we don’t get holidays, vacation days, no bonuses.”
The FTA is a model that promotes the race to the bottom for labor rights. In the global economy, as promoted by free trade agreements, whoever has the cheapest labor is deemed the most “competitive. In Colombia this has significantly weakened labor legislation and continues to cut back on workers rights in order to have a cheap labor force. In the case of the corteros, this has meant the promotion of labor cooperativas, which have consistently thwarted organizing rights and taken away basic benefits like healthcare and pensions.
Over the past 20 years there have been changes in the sugar
industry in order to make it more “competitive”.As in many other cases we’ve seen in the U.S. and other
Latin American countries, workers usually get the short end of the stick and
the sugar industry is no exception.Sugar
cane cutter wages have decreased by more than half due to labor flexibilization
and use of sub-contracting companies; in 1989 sugar cane cutter earned an
average of 15,000-20,000 Colombian pesos (CP) per day or about $8-10 USD. In 2005 the average wages had dropped to 10,000
CP per day (about $5), meaning that wages have been cut in half – and that’s without taking inflation and buying power in to
account.
Exclusive Witness for Peace Colombia Video interview: Julio Cesar Lopez has worked has worked for 18 years in Valle del Cauca’s sugar zone located to the north of Cali. Julio and other workers decided to go on hunger strike in September 2008 in order to demand improved working conditions. Watch the video below to find out more about Julio Cesar and other sugarcane workers.
