ABSTRACT
On Christmas Day in 2001 several hundred members of a public service union located in the southwestern city of Cali, Colombia occupied their company’s 17th fl oor central administration building, the CAM Tower. The occupation was in response to the Colombian government’s decision to move ahead with plans to privatize EMCALI1 the state owned utilities company which provides electricity, water, and telecommunications to the city’s two million inhabitants. For SINTRAEMCALI,2 the public service union involved, this was yet one more challenge in their long running battle to keep their company in public hands.
