International Trade committee  In Colombia we have about 1.5 million unionized workers, based on the census from last year. We have a total of 50 million workers; therefore, unionized workers amount to 10% of the working population. We in turn represent approximately 10% of that figure. In other words, I repre

International Trade committee  Yes, on the first question, the two candidates who are at the top of the polls right now are Santos, who clearly is in favour of the FTA, and then Mr. Mockus, who is also in favour of the FTA. Now the Liberal Party is in favour of the FTAs because President Gaviria always support

International Trade committee  The problem is that union leaders usually don't assess their members as to whether they agree or they don't agree with the FTA. We represent 10% of the Colombian unions, and we support the FTA. What I was saying is that with the new census from last year--and we didn't have infor

International Trade committee  In fact, the majority of unions in Colombia are against the FTA for the reasons the minister has mentioned. In the past, unfortunately, the majority of unions created were basically in the public sector. The central union that was created last year increased the number of unions

International Trade committee  I am Walter Navarro. I am the president of the SINPRO trade union. It is the union of public service workers, the trade union grouping of workers for homes and housing. It groups workers from the telecommunications and energy industries, but I am also representing the trade union