Skip to main content

Levin Statement on DOL Accepting Colombia Labor Petition

July 15, 2016

WASHINGTON, DC – Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) today released the following statement after the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Trade and Labor Affairs accepted a petition from worker rights groups, which alleges that Colombia is not satisfying its labor obligations under the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement:

"I welcome the Department of Labor's decision to review Colombia's compliance with its labor obligations under the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion agreement. In recent weeks, my colleagues and I have met with Colombia's new Minister of Labor, Colombian labor unions, and Obama Administration officials to discuss Colombia's labor laws and practices.

"Now is the time for Colombia to take real action, bringing itself into active compliance with the obligations that have been in place for more than four years.

"In vital respects, there has been a disturbing failure by Colombia to implement key requirements under the U.S.-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement. Included is the end of abusive subcontracting in all forms as required by the Labor Action Plan, thereby denying workers their basic right to be represented as provided in the FTA, as well as the overwhelming impunity for those committing violence against labor union activists."

###