The Association of Injured Workers and Ex-Workers of General Motors Colmotores (ASOTRECOL) is a Colombia-based labor organization comprised of several former workers at GM Colmotores, a Colombian subsidiary of General Motors (GM), who allege they sustained work-related injuries at the Colmotores plant. The group set up an encampment in front of the United States Embassy in Bogota, Colombia’s capital, for multiple years, and at one point “sewed their mouths shut” as part of a hunger strike while seeking restitution from General Motors. Representatives from the United Auto Workers labor union helped negotiate an agreement between GM and the association in 2012; however, as of 2025, the group still was maintaining its encampment outside of the embassy. ^{1 2 3}

Background

The Fabrica Colombiana de Automotores (Colmotores) was incorporated in 1956 and purchased by General Motors in 1979 when the company acquired nearly four-fifths of the Colombian firm’s shares. Since then, the company was renamed General Motors Colmotores. ²

Activities

ASOTRECOL was formed in 2012 by workers at a General Motors-owned automotive plant in Colombia who alleged that they sustained work-related injuries at the plant. The group of former workers initially started filing complaints against the company in 2011, and in 2012, formed an encampment on the sidewalk outside the United States Embassy in Bogota, Colombia. In August 2012, three of the protestors at the encampment sewed their lips shut to initiate a hunger strike. The labor union-aligned publication Labor Notes reported that “For the last year, GM has ignored the group’s peaceful protests as they occupy the sidewalk in front of the U.S. Embassy. ‘It’s practically the same,’ said worker Jorge Parra, ’whether we die of hunger or die waiting for them to solve this problem.’” ⁴

Far-left publication People’s World reported that GM’s “domination of its workforce initially proved effective at isolating ASOTRECOL. There was GM’s company ‘union’—the Collective Pact—which workers were required to join upon being hired under one-year contracts. The workers were forbidden from joining the National Union of the Metallurgy Industry (SINTRAIME), but even the latter’s support for ASOTRECOL was limited to an endorsement of the Association’s claims.” ²

Workers who took part in the ASOTRECOL protests numbered around twelve for most of the group’s activity. The group initially hoped that the Obama administration would intervene to help negotiate a settlement, particularly as the U.S. government was a major shareholder of General Motors at the time following a government-funded bailout of the company amid the Great Recession. ²

A few weeks after the hunger strike in late August of 2012, the Obama administration U.S. Labor Department announced that “representatives from GM headquarters and the United Auto Workers traveled to Colombia to help broker a path forward between the two groups” and that the two sides had reached an “agreement to participate in mediation facilitated by the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service,” and that ASOTRECEL had agreed to end its hunger strike. ³

As of 2025, the encampment was still active outside the U.S. Embassy in Bogota. The United Auto Workers issued a statement of support for the group, as GM prepared to close the Colmotores plant at the heart of the dispute. ¹

1. “UAW Statement on Colombian GM Workers.” X (formerly Twitter). Accessed August 10, 2025. https://x.com/UAW/status/1951703529103454515
2. “After 13 Years, U.S. Solidarity Efforts with Fired Colombian GM Auto Workers Continue.” People’s World. Accessed August 10, 2025. https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/after-13-years-u-s-solidarity-efforts-with-fired-colombian-gm-auto-workers-continue/
3. “U.S. Department of Labor Provides Grant to Support Labor Rights for Auto Workers in Colombia.” U.S. Department of Labor. August 24, 2012. Accessed August 10, 2025. https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ilab/ilab20120824
4. “Lips Sewed Shut: Colombia GM Workers Will Not Be Silent.” Labor Notes. August 7, 2012. Accessed August 10, 2025. https://labornotes.org/blogs/2012/08/lips-sewed-shut-colombia-gm-workers-will-not-be-silent