In a visit organised by Justice for Colombia, the General Secretary of Colombia’s ANTHOC health workers trade union, María Esneida Laverde, attended UNISON’s National Delegate Conference in Liverpool over 16-19 June.
The main purpose of the visit was to raise awareness of the many challenges facing Colombia’s trade union movement, as well as to build support around broader issues of human rights, peacebuilding and the importance of social reforms proposed by the progressive government of President Gustavo Petro.
As a member of Colombia’s largest health workers union, ANTHOC, for 36 years – she was elected General Secretary in 2022 – María has been keenly aware of the difficulties facing workers in a public health system starved of funding and in which large sectors of the population struggle to access even basic medical attention. The government’s healthcare reform aims to drastically expand access to those denied it, often through high-cost privatised services, and provide healthcare in underdeveloped regions where clinics are lacking. However, as with other reform bills in education and labour rights, the healthcare reform has encountered stringent opposition from right-wing sectors of Congress that seek to block the progresive agenda.
María has also had direct experience of the violence that has impacted, and fundamentally weakened as a result, Colombia’s trade union movement. In 2016, she was forced to leave her home region of Arauca, eastern Colombia, and resettle in Bogota due to threats to her life, leaving behind her family and work. She has also survived assassination attempts. Despite all this, she has remained a determined campaigner for the rights of healthcare workers and their communities, as well as committed to supporting peacebuilding through the trade union movement.
While in Liverpool, María spoke on these issues at several events, including UNISON’s international rally alongside trade unionists from Kenya, the Philippines and Turkey, as well as UNISON General Secretary Christina McAnea. As always, there was also a JFC fringe meeting, in which María was the keynote speaker with other speakers UNISON North West’s Joanne Moorcroft and Micaela Tracey-Ramos, both of whom visited Colombia on a JFC delegation last year. The North West region also organised an international solidarity meeting in which María joined speakers from Cuba and Palestine to discuss what UNISON trade unionists can do to support social justice and peace in these countries.
Back in London, María visited the Houses of Parliament to meet with Labour MPs Kim Johnson and Katrina Murray, both of whom expressed their commitment to working in parliament to advance peace and human rights in Colombia. María also met with the TUC’s Head of International, Rosa Crawford, to assess ways in which the British trade union movement can support Colombian unions and peacebuilding.
One of the important initiatives promoted by María throughout the visit was ANTHOC’s establishment of trade union schools in Colombia that aim to provide young people with training and skills to enter trade union roles. High levels of violence, stigmatisation and anti-union discrimination deter many workers from joining unions, with the problem particularly acute among younger people. Overcoming these barriers is critical to strengthening the trade union movement, something that the trade union schools were set up to do.
JFC would like to thank everyone who gave María such a warm welcome throughout her visit and reaffirmed their commitment to supporting trade unionism, human rights and peace in Colombia.