From left to right, José Vásquez Plaza, Ramón Durán Castellar, Darwin Pallares Chamorro.
- This partnership between union and company, which responds to a unique model in Colombian palm cultivation, is now at risk due to Bud Rot.
El Copey, Cesar, May 14, 2024
Breaking the myths of the impossible, in the municipalities of El Copey and Algarrobo, in Cesar, thirty years ago, a group of owners and workers, apparently incompatible to reach agreements, not only had the capacity to be partners and carry out an oil palm plantation, bathed by the waters of the Ariguaní River; but today they are the living example that a union and a company can understand each other when it comes to saving a company, the employment of the region and the livelihood of numerous families.
This is an unprecedented union in Colombia and one that many did not believe in, since employers and workers have always been considered opposites. But a very different story was written by the Sintraproaceites union and the palm growing company Gremca, Sustainable Agriculture and Energy S.A., when they put aside the eternal confrontation between parties and, in contrast, took on the task of working, shoulder to shoulder, to carry out a society that would change their lives.
It is a different business model, unique in the country, in which workers affiliated with a union organization are partners in 20% of the company, which represents a win-win scheme of how companies, instead of going bankrupt by a union, are saved by it. It also demonstrates how “water and oil” can mix until reaching a formula where worker-partners and investors sit at the table, with the character of owners and sufferers of the same business.
The difficult thing to tell, having reached this point, is that this winning model is now at risk and could disappear, as have several oil palm plantations in Colombia that have been affected by Bud Rot (PC), given that from 2022 to the present day the disease has gained strength in Gremca’s crops.
“As a worker and as an entrepreneur, today we are experiencing a different moment in which this model of social classes that were not previously favored and that are from the entrails of the union organization fits, because although we have a different condition than that of other unions, we have not stopped being union members or activists”, said Ramón Durán Castellar, president of Sintraproaceites, El Copey section, who has been in Gremca for 30 years, where he began as a harvester, worker in the plant as an operator, representative of the worker partners with 20% and member of the Board of Directors as auditor.
The leader explained that his organization presented the model to the Vice Minister of Labor Relations and Inspection, Edwin Palma Egea, whom he refers to as a friend of the union organization. “We want them to listen to us and have the decided support of the Government, that they look at us from a particular condition, because we were able to detach ourselves from certain benefits, which we obtained through the union struggle, to save the company. Today we ask for help to face the disease of PC; we are not asking for anything to be given to us, but we do ask for support with credits that allow us to do the renovation”, he pointed out.
Regarding the situation, he said: “Our fighting spirit has not changed, but our mentality has, and now that we have a government that is friendly to the social component, Sintraproaceites asks for help to face the harsh reality of PC in the plantations in which we work, to continue bringing food and well-being to our homes and that our model continues forward, reaping successes”.
And it is that this joint path that the worker partners and the businessmen have undertaken has been nourished by trust, will, respect, dialogue and agreement to achieve a collective construction of development, progress and improvement of the quality of life of families and communities, relying on hard work, general interest, sense of belonging, commitment and good business results.
Similarly, Darwin José Pallares Chamorro, physical security supervisor, with 20 years of work in Gremca, general secretary of Sintraproaceites and representative of the worker partners of 20% before the Board of Directors of the company, explained that “the corporate model was achieved thanks to the strategic vision and leadership of our leaders, despite the neglect and lack of commitment in which previous governments have had us. We need the current Government, of change, to vindicate that in Colombia there is a union that without losing its essence of struggle, in the company of business palm growers who believed in union members, created, saved and have sustained a company, ending the paradigm that unions close companies and companies end unions”.
“We call on the Government of President Gustavo Petro Urrego to listen to us, and that the benefits of this model reach the less favored, contribute to reconciliation and total peace, which is one of the main banners of his administration. We have a winning model that this Government is capable of understanding and helping to promote because it would be beneficial for any company”, said the union director.
In turn, José Gregorio Vásquez Plaza, with 20 years in the company, treasurer in the Board of Directors of Sintraproaceites and also representative of the worker partners, said that “the government has a lot to do and plays a very important role in supporting this model and the palm growing sector, reviewing it and seeing the possibility of promoting and replicating it. Now we have the difficulty of Bud Rot, but we have not been idle, we hope for a hand to help us in these difficult times, and that the government pays more attention to us as worker partners, because the company is a generator of employment, sustenance and well-being for our families and communities”.
Finally, on this point, Durán Castellar pointed out: “we know the economy and finances of the company, we distribute the profits, a practice with which all the unions of Colombia and the world dream and for which they have historically fought. In this call that we make to President Petro, we invite him to get to know this model, which we have had for thirty years, and its benefits. I think that if this is replicated in other companies and productive sectors, conflicts would be reduced and greater sustainability would be generated in the companies, of which we can speak as workers, union members and partners”.
From left to right, Darwin Pallares Chamorro, Ramón Durán Castellar, José Vásquez Plaza.
How did the corporate model originate?
A strong crisis of the company, caused by several factors —among them the economic opening of the government of President César Gaviria Trujillo— was one of the triggers between the years 1983 and 1988. When the representatives of the company said: “Let’s stop”, the workers felt the jolt, the anguish and the despair. Then the businessmen proposed to the workers that they be partners, before which many did not believe in this alliance because it seemed absurd to them that a capitalist would risk his money, but in many there was also confidence and the society managed to materialize.
With the decision of the society, in 1993, the production capacity was improved and the competition was increased to resist the falls in the price of oil and the oversupply of substitutes for oilseeds in the world. This alliance also represented the only way for palm growers to request loans and workers to contribute their social benefits and thus bring the company to a good port.
According to Ramón Durán Castellar, the situation was very precarious for the workers: “the employers transported us in stake trucks to reach the crop, those in which the cattle were mobilized and precisely a colleague at the time of getting on one of those trucks slipped and the accidental fall led him to death. It was right at his wake where people began to talk about organizing a base union”.
At the time, they had to hold the constitution meeting clandestinely. The first movement was called Sintrapalmacosta and did not have much strength. Already with Sintraproaceites, in 1989, the first Convention was negotiated and it was achieved that they hired 190 workers directly by the company; that is, they went from being contractors to direct, improving the working conditions of that moment, for example transporting people in buses.
Before the model was implemented, the public order situation was difficult: murders, robberies and delinquency. There was a 30-day strike in the 80s in the company and there were even members of the union murdered, which accentuated the crisis.
The union at that time delayed work, both in El Copey and in Algarrobo; it did not do the work properly and carried out stoppages that were very expensive for the company. The wives of the workers stood in front of the entrance to work with their families; they took the main road and practically paralyzed the country. After thirty days of strike, the company paid with oil; there was no more money.
The crisis was so acute that Darwin José Pallares Chamorro recalls that the only option was to associate. “The president of the union at that time said: I do not want to be remembered as a president of a union that ended a company but as one that saved it and also a region”.
Main benefits for worker partners
The union still has a school in this area of Cesar and that gave it recognition with the people when everything was incipient. After the society, the company Gremca took on its own the educational issue in the region and began to respond for the education of the children of the workers.
Being partners but at the same time workers, among the benefits for them is the educational assistance for the children, from 0 grade until reaching the university, cost that the company covers at 100%.
“We save 7.5% of our salary and the company gives us the same percentage annually, as contemplated in the Convention. On December 15, the company returns the savings to the worker and gives him the same amount, with which he can schedule for his payments and generates stability”, explained Pallares Chamorro.
There were more than 350 direct workers. Football championships were held and the image of the union that wanted to end the company was changed. There were also five endowments a year. Resources were invested in solidarity until the constitution of the Foundation.
“History showed that it was a credible model and we all felt a change of status compared to other workers in the region, which motivated us a high sense of belonging and much care for everything, we raised our hands if a colleague was working badly and it hurt us that the fruit was lost. We valued that it was not common for union members to become part of the company as shareholders”, narrated Durán Castellar.
The union leaders consulted pointed out that the best benefit was job stability, which helped them have a better quality of life and tranquility. Their struggles changed: now they were the low productions, the prices of oil, the climate and the diseases.
Being part and owners of the company, all the changes are defined by agreement: the good working environment prevails and everyone rows for the same side, supported by good agricultural practices. The skeptics stayed for a while as workers and not as partners, but over time they were leaving the company.
The pride and profitability of being a worker partner
“The contribution of the workers became shares and as the company came out of bank loans, around five years, the fruits of the society began to be seen: the company was generating profits and the workers and palm growing partners began to see their dividends”, said Darwin Pallares Chamorro.
“I perceive myself as an entrepreneur, owner and worker, with great pride and with good ego. It is a condition that forces me to contribute, and more as a union leader, since we are the only organization that has achieved something that all unions want in their struggle, and we achieved it. We never talk about strikes and rallies, but we do present our Convention, which achieves real benefits for our affiliates without the need for confrontations, because we have already achieved the agreements and consensus that give us job stability with dialogue and harmony”, said Ramón Durán Castellar.
Likewise, José Gregorio Vásquez Plaza argued that “the great change was being a shareholder and the great difference. It gave us many advantages: a nationally recognized union organization, being on the Board of Directors, tranquility because everything is open and participating in decision-making. I think we are the only workers in the country who have access to the entire financial issue and how the company in which we work moves”.
The success story of pensioners
There were people who did not believe in the society and when they retired they only had their pension and severance pay, a completely different case from being worker partners because, apart from the pension, they receive a pension bonus, around $10 million, independent of everything that has to do with the corporate issue and the benefits, and a letter of thanks for the time worked, indicated the sources consulted.
In this sense, Luis Carlos Rodríguez de León, a worker of the company for 38 years, today retired, said that he felt like the owner of the company. Always, while he worked in it, he defended it and now as a pensioner he feels very grateful because the company gave him everything that corresponded to him.
He has three children who work in Gremca: “and for me they are the future and I feel happy to see them happy working. I did not want to retire, I had an accident that pressured the pension, but I am very grateful to be a pensioner and the good relationship I have with the company”.
He stated that they gave him his capital shares; he is working with the resources they gave him and he feels very satisfied.
Juan Manuel Vásquez Plaza worked in the company for 43 years and commented: “thanks to my God I still have a link with Gremca and I really feel it like my family. This society is the best thing that has happened to the region. We all respect each other and treat each other equally; this relationship has been excellent for workers and managers. My family supported me a lot and they have been benefited thanks to this model. Some children studied and the company received four of them who work in Gremca and continue to grow with it, already feeding their children”.
And this is how this story of unionized worker partners not only represents a call to the Government in order to safeguard jobs and the good course of a company that works under sustainable standards; it also seeks to preserve a successful corporate model and continue working on the construction of values such as the capacity for agreement, reaching agreements, feeling respected and listened to. They are aware that, being owners of a part of the company, they must contribute efficient and quality work, vital for the development of a business that belongs to everyone in Cesar.