Colombia: Resistance of the Workers of SINALTRAFAMILIA

Featured image: Protest camp by the workers of SINALTRAFAMILIA.

The workers organized in the SINALTRAFAMILIA union have been resisting an attack by the firm for over a month. The workers of the “Familia” firm in Medellín were called in under false pretenses like “trainings” or “cleaning duty” on July 17 only to be faced with demands to either sign resignation letters or be reassigned to another seat over 500km away.

While some workers began signing documents in confusion, others, especially ones organized in the SINALTRAFAMILIA union, which was founded as part of the resistance against a previous wave of firings, already began resisting. Nueva Democracia that has been accompanying the worker’s resistance has described the struggles that went on already since the first day:

The president of the union, who was already put on paid leave for being a “disturbance” to the firm, heard of the attacks and together with 17 of his co-workers took a stance and refused to leave the premises while warning the workers not to sign anything, occupying the building. There they managed to stay for two days until they were brutally evicted by the police despite their resistance.

Since then a protest camp has been put up outside the gates of the firm, that since 2021 is 95,8 % owned by the Swiss monopoly Essity. It has become a place of solidarity and of coming together for various popular and union organizations.

There are also solidarity and cultural events organized, like on August 14. During this event at least eleven of the workers were notified of having been fired, who are now preparing actions in response.

We share with our readers the call made by Nueva Democracia: “to show solidarity with these comrades in all manners, be it in video form, economic donations or in-kind, accompaniment in the protest camp, during days and nights, sharing this and similar messages. We also invite you to follow the Facebook page of SINALTRAFAMILIA to follow the conflict.”

Nueva Democracia is the source of all the images used in this article.