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Stop Killer Coke
by cb
Wednesday July 09, 2003 at 01:06 AM
Demonstrate against Coke's killings in Colombia - July 22
Defend the right to organise
Solidarity with Colombian unionists
Stop Killer Coke
Melbourne
Public meeting – Monday 14 July, 7pm, Trades Hall Bar, Carlton
Demonstration – Tuesday 22 July, 5pm, Federation Sq.
Sydney
Demonstration – Tuesday 22 July, 5pm, Coca-Cola headquarters, 71 Circular Quay East.
Stop Killer Coke
Coca Cola kills Trade Unionists
Colombia is not a safe place to be a trade unionist. It’s even more dangerous if you work for one of the Coca Cola bottlers.
Since 1996 when union negotiator Isidro Gil was gunned down inside the factory he worked at, there has been a campaign to intimidate, kidnap, torture and murder trade unionists
Paramilitaries in the company’s pocket
Right wing paramilitary gangs in Colombia are responsible for the murders. They say their main aim is to protect corporate interests.
After Isidro Gil was killed paramilitaries handed union resignation letters to all the workers in the factory. Most fled. Wages for the new employees went down from $380 per month to $130.
US trains paramilitaries
The paramilitary gangs can be linked directly to the USA’s School of the America’s. This “school”, directly managed by the US government, has been training paramilitaries since 1988 to terrorise unionists and other left-wingers.
The School of the America’s handbook is clear. Trade unionists are a threat to big business and must be eliminated by anything from intimidation to murder.
Coca Cola charged with the deaths
The union covering Coca Cola workers Sinaltrainal, the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) and the United Steelworkers of America along with the families of murdered unionists have brought a case in the US against Coca Cola and it’s Colombian partner Panamco.
They have evidence connecting the paramilitaries to the bottling company bosses and the Colombian government.
The Coca-Cola Company could stop this violence. In the 1980’s trade union leaders were being killed in Guatemala. International pressure forced Coca-Cola to call a halt to the murders.
Campaign to Stop Killer Coke
The campaign in the US has spread from unionists to campuses and communities. Many of the same people who campaign against sweatshop labour have taken up the fight for trade union rights in Colombia.
This campaign is now active in Australia. Workers in Colombia have called for a boycott of Coke products to pressure the company. They want the company to negotiate with their union, remove the local managers responsible for the violence and set up an global agreement with workers in Coke plants internationally.
But we can do more than lobby the company directors. We can stop Coke at the source – at the factories and distribution centers.
Attacks in Australia
Right now the Howard government is attacking militant unionists and even the right to be in a union. Union members here are not threatened with death, but our wages, conditions and right to organise are.
Solidarity with trade unionists in Colombia is a part of our fight to keep our unions here. We are part of a global movement.
Global campaign
Colombian trade unionists recognize Coca-Cola is a massive multi-national. Coke workers around the world are under attack – in countries including Guatemala, Peru, Brazil, the United States, Venezuela, Palestine, Turkey, and Iran.
The World Social Forum has endorsed the campaign.
July 22 Stop Killer Coke Day
Be part of the international solidarity and get the campaign off to a huge start here in Australia.
Defend the right to organise
Solidarity with Colombian unionists
Stop Killer Coke
Melbourne
Public meeting – Monday 14 July, 7pm, Trades Hall Bar, Carlton
Demonstration – Tuesday 22 July, 5pm, Federation Sq.
Sydney
Demonstration – Tuesday 22 July, 5pm, Coca-Cola headquarters, 71 Circular Quay East.
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