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In 2011, 23 women in Colombia formed a union in their workplace. These women have faced a roller coaster ride of organising drives, negotiations, legal challenges and employer hostility, but less than three years later their private health workers’ union has grown to more than 10,000 members and now covers huge segments of the Colombian private health company they work for. This union is called Sintrasaludcoop, and is going from strength to strength, negotiating and winning workplace agreements across the Salud Coop group of companies.

Their experience shows that even in a climate of intense employer hostility, worker atomisation and geographic challenges, workers can organise an entire employer and win – when they take the opportunities workplace issues and shifting contexts provide.

Colombia is undoubtedly going through huge shifts, with GDP growth alone signalling big changes in the country's economy. At the same time,workers are organising like never before - and there is clearly capacity to increase wages and improve conditions. There is huge resistance to the worker organising happening in Colombia - but workers are continuing to stand together for improvements, with mass industrial action taking place around the country, particularly in the agricultural, health, transport and energy sectors.

Colombia is one of the most unequal countries in the world, and there is clearly a huge contest taking place as to whose needs should be prioritised as the economy grows and society changes. UNICARE affiliates in the private health sector are at the forefront of these struggles and, as the government begins a process of health system contract cuts which will bring collapse and consolidation to companies in the sector which has been privatized for some time, UNI Global Union will continue to support efforts by workers to organise and improve their lives.