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209 Unionists Worldwide Killed
Published Tuesday, October 9, 2001
By PAUL AMES / Associated Press Writer
PSD To HTML conversion is important to webmasters because they cannot use the PSD file as it is for their web pages. if you need PSD To HTML conversion service save yourself some time, effort and money and send it in to the professionals. BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Colombia is the world' s most dangerous place
for
organized labor, accounting for almost three-quarters of the 209 union
members who
disappeared or were killed last year, according to a report released
Tuesday.
In its annual survey of union rights violations, the International
Confederation of Free Trade
Unions said the number of slain or missing unionist in Colombia more
than doubled last
year to 153.
" Trade unionists are regularly the target of attacks not only by
paramilitaries and guerillas,
but also by the authorities and employers, " the report said, adding
that " the state has not
mobilized the resources needed to implement effective protection
programs."
Worldwide, the ICFTU said the number of unionists killed or missing
rose
50 percent from
1999. In addition, the report said about 8, 500 people were arrested
for
the union activity,
3, 000 injured and 20, 000 dismissed from their jobs.
Underscoring the dangers in Colombia, a coal miners' leader was found
slain Sunday, the
third member of his union killed since March.
Gustavo Soler, 39, was shot twice by suspected paramilitary gunmen,
police said. He was
president of the union representing workers at a U.S.-owned coal mine
in
northern Cesar
state. Soler took over the union after its president and a vice
president were killed in
March.
The mine owners, Alabama-based Drummond Ltd. issued a statement
deploring the
killing.
Along with Colombia, the report highlighted Guatemala, Venezuela, Costa
Rica, China,
South Korea, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Belarus and Gulf states such as
Bahrain, Qatar,
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as having " the most
disturbing" union rights
record.
Although it said repression of unions was more violent in developing
countries, the report
also denounced anti-union activities in some of the world richest
nations, such as the use of
professional " union busters" in the United States, strike bans for
some
sectors of Canadian
workers and court actions to end strikes in Belgium.
The survey covered 140 nations, 27 more than in 1999.
The ICFTU has affiliates in 148 countries and territories, representing
156 million workers.
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