Diverse groups march for adequate working conditions, worker protections in Bogotá
On May 1, more than 4,000 people from diverse social and political groups marched through the streets of Bogotá to mark International Labor Day.
- 2 years ago
May 2, 2022
BOGOTÁ, Colombia—On May 1, more than 4,000 people marched through the streets of downtown Bogotá to mark International Labor Day. This national holiday recognizes the work carried out by workers throughout the country as well as the poor conditions, human rights violations, low pay and other injustices many laborers still face.
According to the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE), the country’s unemployment rate for March 2022 was 12.1%, compared to 14.7% in March 2021.
Despite that drop, more than 5.65 million Colombians are employed in the informal sector as of November 2021, without guaranteed contributions to their social security. That figure represents 48% of the employed in the country’s 23 main cities.
This year’s march brought together diverse social and political groups, with yellow, white, and red flags filling the air as they marched. Demonstrators included representatives from the Central Union of Workers (CUT); the Colombian Federation of Educators (FECODE); Colombian Communist Youth (JUCO); the District Association of Workers and Education Workers (ADE), the Colombian Labor Party (PTC), and the Partido Comunes, born from the former guerrilla of the Armed Forces Revolutionaries of Colombia (FARC).
