Europe and Colombia

First of all, before comparing Europe and Colombia, we must said something that everyone must now, this is that nowadays Europe has something that has change the European "life" for the past years, what we are talking about is the creation of the European union which involves 27 states, and also involves a new shared currency called EURO, while Colombia is just Colombia and has no unions such as this one.

First of all we must understand that a Trade Union is a labor union and that a labor union is an organization of workers that fight for a common goal. This trade unions work well depending on the importance that the state gives to them.

The European Union counts with many different trade unions, and lots of them are all about the workers rights, for example the European Trade Union Confederation which has a goal which is “to speak on behalf of the common interests of workers” *. This ETUC has an excellent advantage which is that it works directly with the European Presidency, Council, Commission and Parliament which means that the workers can have leverage power because they get to negotiate directly with those that have the power to change things.

On the other hand we have Colombia which also has different trade unions which have different goals

(each trade union has its own goal), this trade unions work really well as in Europe, but there is a huge

difference which is that in Europe unions are subscribe a confederation that takes common interests to certain governmental institution, but in Colombia unions are not subscribe to such confederation. So here is where the difference is, but we can say that both, Europe and Colombia care about its workers, and implemented some trades for keeping their rights.

*European Trade Union Confederation. “Our aims” [Internet] Retrieved from: http://www.etuc.org/r/2 [Accessed 23 April 2010]