Emergency Demonstration: GM Colombia Workers launched To-The-Death Hunger Strike
Michael Shallal
FORWARD WIDELY!!!!!
Hello Occupy Detroit community!
I'm sending this mass email to folks because of the urgent need to get as many people to this demonstration as possible. Occupy Detroit has been asked to endorse this event. Since we won't have a GA, i'd like to ask if anyone has any concerns about endorsing this one time protest? If not i'd like to put OD on the list of endorses which you can see below. Most of the groups have worked with occupy. All the info you need to know is below. Also if you can make it please respond we are trying to figure out how many people are going to make it.
INTERNATIONAL WORKING CLASS SOLIDARITY!!
When: Wednesday, August 15th, 2012
4:00pm
Where: GM Headquarters
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48243
Quote from Union ASOTRECOL representing GM workers:
"Throughout our struggle, we have encountered obstacles as a result of the national government’s and GM’s corruption. We have thus decided to take drastic action: we initiated a permanent and definitive strike since the past August 1st, 2011, in front of the U.S. Embassy’s installations in Colombia. We lived more than one year in tents and under plastic tarps, bearing the cold, the rain, and the sun. Unfortunately, after all this, the giant tentacles of this multinational have still not allowed us to attain justice. It is for this reason that upon reaching our peaceful strike’s first anniversary in front of the Embassy, we took further action by announcing a definitive hunger strike with four members of the association who sewed their lips closed on August 1st, 2012."
Below is more information about the struggle workers are waging in Colombia against GM.
Who We Are
We are the Association of Injured Workers and Ex-Workers of General Motors Colombia (ASOTRECOL). We created our association in order to protect the human rights of GM workers and ex-workers and to denounce the abuses committed by GM. This association was created on May 19th, 2011, and holds 68 current members. In reality, we have been seeking justice for over three years. We serve as a labor network among workers so that we can refute GM’s claims when it asserts that our injuries and firings had no link to the work we performed within the GM plant in Colombia.Our Struggle
Throughout our struggle, we have encountered obstacles as a result of the national government’s and GM’s corruption. We have thus decided to take drastic action: we initiated a permanent and definitive strike since the past August 1st, 2011, in front of the U.S. Embassy’s installations in Colombia. We lived more than one year in tents and under plastic tarps, bearing the cold, the rain, and the sun. Unfortunately, after all this, the giant tentacles of this multinational have still not allowed us to attain justice. It is for this reason that upon reaching our peaceful strike’s first anniversary in front of the Embassy, we took further action by announcing a definitive hunger strike with four members of the association who sewed their lips closed on August 1st, 2012. To make it clear, if we do not receive a serious commitment from GM or Colombian authorities, the rest of our association’s members will, in succession, initiate the same action until our petitions have been resolved.
Our struggle is based on supporting our members in making denouncements before the Ministry of Labor, the Office of the Inspector General, and the Regional and National Boards of Disability Ratings. We have been denouncing the corruption that exists at General Motors before the Ministry of Labor, which has permitted General Motors to continue abusing its workers. We have expended great effort to file our case with the International Labor Organization, where we expect prompt responses to our claims. Our cases share many traits and are related to the work we performed within GM. We suffer from various injuries, including: • Musculoskeletal problems
- Herniated discs
- Carpal tunnel
- Elbow and shoulder tendonitis
- Tinnitus (chronic ringing in the ears)
- Elbow epicondylitis
- Knee problems
- Cancer
- Spinal injuries
Our Requests
We have asked GM to reintegrate us into their workforce, rehire us for jobs that we can perform according to our health conditions, and to provide the necessary training for those jobs. Likewise, we request pensions for those who can't continue working due to their injuries. Additionally, we believe it just to request economic compensation for this long period we've been unable to work, which has directly impacted the wellbeing of our families. So great are the impacts that many of our members have lost their housing due to incomplete mortgage payments, thanks also to the capitalist banking system.
To our American brothers and sisters, we want to remind you that we live in the country with the highest rate of assaults against unionized workers. It is not only murderous bullets that plunge our workers into mourning in Colombia, but also the slow, agonizing death produced by indifference and the eagerness to forget that we have endured firsthand.
Get Involved
We believe that the U.S. government solved GM’s financial crisis and, through the tax dollars spent on its bailout, became its largest shareholder. We consider it more than fair that, being a country that respects human rights, the U.S. help us to arrive at conclusive solutions. For this reason, we would like to respectfully request the involvement of U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Michael McKinley himself as well as the honorable Congress of the United States of America. We ask that they compel GM headquarters to resolve our just petitions and make the promise, as a great U.S. automobile company, to not permit the continuance of these abuses in its plants across the world. We want to ask the American people, its unions, and its government to grant us special help in solidarity, and to help us in our search for justice.
Emergency Demonstration: GM Colombia Workers launched To-The-Death Hunger Strike
When: Wednesday, August 15th, 2012
4:00pm
Where: GM Headquarters
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48243
For more info:
Labor Notes Article
Endorsed by: Washtenaw Community Action Team, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice, Moratorium Now!, Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions, and Utility Shutoffs, Organization for a Free Society
Manifestación de Emergencia:Trabajadores de GM Colombia en huelga de hambre hasta la muerte
Cuando: miércoles, 15 de Agosto, 4:00pm
Donde: GM Headquarters
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48243
Apoyado por: Washtenaw Community Action Team, Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice, Moratorium Now!, Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions, and Utility Shutoffs, Organization for a Free Society
Michael Shallal
2014 Wabash
Detroit, MI
(313) 903-2298