Unions members from across Colombian will converge on the country’s major cities October 7 to protest the president Álvaro Uribe’s economic policies and support the current judicial and sugarcane cutters strikes.
The demonstrations will also protest the form in which the reelection of Uribe was approved, said Tarcisio Mora, the president of the United Workers Central, CUT for its Spanish initials, at a Friday forum on the effects of mining exploitation on indigenous communities, reported Spanish news agency EFE.
Union workers have “decided to march through the streets so that the Uribe Administration, once again, is made aware of hunger and misery, so that the state’s institutions understand that their laws don’t represent the interests of the great majority,” Mora said.
Some 40,000 judicial workers have been on strike since September 3, seeking salary equalization and autonomy. The strike is expected to continue at least through the weekend. An additional 10,000 of sugarcane cutters began a strike on September 15 to demand better working conditions.
News reports did not say how many workers were expected to join the October 7 protest.
Earlier this week, EFE reported that the International Federation of Human Rights asked Uribe for protection for various union leaders and defenders of human rights who had received death threats in recent days, including members of CUT.