Organised Outsourced Cerrejón Food Workers’ Call for Bargaining Ignored

ICEM’s affiliated mining union Sintracarbón is calling for pressure to be increased local management of food multination Aramark, to follow their legal requirement and enter into bargaining with the newly formed union.

The 90 workers at Aramark formed a branch of the national Colombian union of food workers, SINAILTRAINAL on 21 February, elected the leadership, and drafted and approved the list of demands which was presented to management the following day, 22 February.

Colombian labour law requires the employer to respond and enter bargaining with the nascent union within five days. This step has not been taken by local Aramark management.

The absence of any mechanism for industrial relations at the contractor had lead workers to frustration on salary, and shift scheduling especially.

Sintracarbón has escalated its campaign to organise outsourced workers at Cerrejón over the last two years, following a congress vote to change the organisation’s statutes and allow inclusion of outsourced workers.