|
|
More workers join Colombian hunger strike after no progress with GM
8 August 2012
| BOGOTA, Colombia - After mediated talks with General Motors failed, three more workers have joined a hunger strike in Bogota, Colombia. |
On Wednesday, three more members of ASOTRECOL, the Association of Injured Workers and Ex-Workers of General Motors Colombia – Rafael Ángel Jiménez, Wilson Fabio Blandón, and Ferney Rodríguez – sewed their mouths closed to denounce the crimes committed against them by GM.
On Aug. 2, members of ASOTRECOL completed seven days on indefinite hunger strike in front of the United States Embassy in Bogotá.
The men have taken this extreme action after being fired from GM due to workplace injuries. Their injuries left them unemployable and unable to support their families. GM has refused to compensate them for disabilities obtained on the job, and the men have not been given access to medical care.
“We must reclaim our rights and demand an end to the human rights violations committed by General Motors,” said Jorge Alberto Parra Andrade, president of ASOTRECOL. “If necessary, we are willing to die fighting for justice.”
On Monday, ASOTRECOL held its fifth mediation with GM and representatives of the Ministry of Labor, the International Labor Organization and the Office of Inspector General, but GM stated it would not return to mediations.
“Essentially GM gave us the same choice: to die of hunger or to die waiting for them to solve this problem,” stated Parra Andrade. “We are announcing that we will continue our fight until GM resolves our cases. Our struggle is serious and just. General Motors must answer for its actions and what they have done to us. All we want is justice.”
ASOTRECOL is an association created to protect the human rights of GM workers and ex-workers and to denounce the abuses committed by GM. Members have been peacefully protesting in front of the United States Embassy for one year.
For more information
Visit the ASOTRECOL website
Sign the Witness for Peace petition
Related article
Colombian workers take drastic steps to protest mistreatment by General Motors |
|
|
|
