Good
News: Colombian Coke Bottler
Good
News: Signs
Agreement with Union
Stop
Deadly Union-busting at Drummond Coal
Background
from
the Wall Street Journal, 10/06/03
Death Squad Threats against Coke Bottlers' Union Official
Background
Letter from William Mendoza
/ En Español
Action
Former Coca-Cola Union President Kidnapped
Background
Action
Contact Info for US Senators
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Action Alerts back
to Colombia
IUF affiliate and Colombian Coca-Cola bottler sign agreement - union rights clauses maintained in full!
From the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations
(IUF) website of 16-Apr-2004.
IUF
affiliate SICO and Coca-Cola Coke franchise bottler Bebidas y Alimentos
de Urabá reached an agreement late in the night of April 15 after weeks
of lengthy negotiations and just as a strike was about to begin.
Negotiations had been stalled around trade union rights issues after
the company had sought the removal of protective clauses in the
agreement. Such changes would have significantly restricted union
rights at the plant.
The final agreement reached saw the company withdraw all its demands
that these protective clauses be withdrawn. In addition the agreement
included the reinstatement of one of two union representatives who had
been dismissed two years earlier (the second for whom additional
compensation was negotiated had found alternative employment and
preferred not to return to work at the plant). In economic terms
improvements included a wage increase of 12% and additional financial
benefits.
On behalf of the Carepa workers and their IUF- affiliated union SICO
the IUF thanks all affiliates, including IUF affiliates within
Colombia, and others who responded to our call to support the Carepa
Coca- Cola bottler workers and their union at the plant. Messages and
protests to Coca-Cola and to the local bottler franchise from IUF
affiliates throughout Latin America and beyond calling on the company
to reach a fair and just settlement played an important role in
changing management's initially hostile and anti-union position
throughout these negotiations.
The IUF Latin American region coordinated much of the support to the
Carepa workers' union SICO and the IUF internationally forcefully
raised the issue during direct discussions with The Coca-Cola Company
in Atlanta, stressing the need to persuade the local franchise
management to fundamentally change its approach.
Ultimately of course credit for this significant achievement must go to
the union members in the Carepa bottling plant and their union's
leadership. Their courage and determination to protect their rights in
extremely difficult circumstances became increasingly clear both to the
company and to IUF members inside and outside Colombia. This
determination so evident through weeks of serious and focussed
negotiation supported by a credible threat of local and international
action and support has now brought them a settlement they can be proud
of.
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background info
Threats
Escalate Against
Coke Bottlers' Union Official
see also: Colombia -- Former Union Leader Kidnapped
[From our August 2002 Colombia delegation's contacts...]
William
Mendoza, President of the food and beverage worker's union that
represents Coca-Cola bottlers in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, is being
harassed and threatened by the very deadly paramilitaries. Mr.
Mendoza was interviewed by the delegation of which Daytonian Joe Kunkel
was a part last year.
Threats against William
Mendoza's life are nothing new, but they have become increasingly
worrisome of late. William has been able to get his family to
safety, but he still faces danger, and has asked us for help. It
is important that we remind our government of William's case.
Eight of William's co-workers
have been murdered by paramilitary death squads in Colombia, and many
more have had to flee their homes with their families after being
threatened with death. Union leaders say that these
paramilitaries are hired by Coca-Cola to threaten workers so that they
will leave the union, and one worker was killed on the floor of the
Coca-Cola plant after paramilitaries were allowed to enter. The union
has brought suit against Coca-Cola in US Federal Court in Florida,
implicating the company in the deaths and displacement of dozens of
workers.
William
Mendoza has received repeated death threats over the last several
years; yet he continues to work with the union in Barrancabermeja and
is a leader in the struggle against Coca-Cola. He is a strong and
courageous man who deserves our support.
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v
Action: Lobby US State Dept, or US Embassy in Colombia
Please
fax, call or write the US State Department or the U.S Embassy in
Colombia and ask them to put pressure on the Colombian government to:
1. Help safeguard William Mendoza and his family's lives by giving them assistance to leave their town of Barrancabermeja.
2. Actively investigate and prosecute the people responsible for the threats against William Mendoza and his family.
3.
Show resolve to act against all terrorist groups by investigating other
human rights violations committed by paramilitary forces in Colombia.
Sec. of State Colin Powell
US Dept. of State
2201 C St. NW
Washington, DC 20520
State Dept. Main Switchboard: 202-647-4000
Colombia Desk: 202-647-3023
Ambassador Anne Patterson
US Embassy - Colombia
Calle 22D-BIS, No. 47-51
Apartado Aereo 3831
APO AA 34038
Bogota, Colombia
Tel: 011-571-315-2112
Fax: 011-571-315-2197or 315-2111 or 315-2451
If you would like to address the
larger situation of US aid to Colombia, you can mention this case as
just one of thousands of human rights abuses that disqualify Colombia
from receiving US aid, and ask your representatives and senators to
stop military aid to Colombia.
Representative
___________
Senator ________________
US House of
Representatives
US Senate
In English...
Hello everyone,
I hope that you are well and I regret that I am writing to say that I am being persecuted again by paramilitaries.
On
the 6th of January I recieved a call on my cell phone from a person
that identified himself as JOHN JAIRO, and said that he was a leader of
the self defense forces (paramilitaries) and that they needed to talk
to me.
On Friday the 17th my 12-year-old
daughter recieved a call from an unknown person at my house that said
to her, "Where are your daddy and mommy, tell them to take care of
themselves. Where do you go to school?" My daughter said to him,
"At the Technical Business School," and the man said, "Don't be a liar,
you study at the Diego Hernandez School, and right now your brother is
cleaning up in front of the house. Take good care."
It is true that my daughter goes
to school at the Diego Hernandez School, and at that moment my son was
cleaning up in front of the house, which means that they were watching
the house, and this is a clear message to me.
We denounced this at the Attorney General's office and at the Administrative Department of Security (DAS).
Once again I have to take my
family out of Barrancabermeja, but I hope that you will be in
solidarity with us and through your organizations put pressure on the
Colombian government to investigate and punish the people responsible
for these threats, and to safeguard the lives of my family. I
will, as always, continue in the struggle here in Barranca, but I need
to protect my family. I don't have economic resources to get them out,
and I have asked for humanitarian aid from the government, but as of
now there is nothing coming.
With much love,
Hola a todos: Espero esten bien, Lamento comunicarles que nuevamente estoy siendo perseguido por presuntos paramilitares.
El día 6 de enero recibo en mi telefono celular, una llamada de
una persona que se identifica como John Jairo y dice ser responsable
politico de las autodefensas (paramilitares) y que necesitan hablar
conmigo.
El día viernes 17 mi hija de 12 años recibe una llamada de una
persona desconocida en mi casa que le dice "DONDE ESTA SU PAPÁ Y SU
MAMÁ, DIGALES QUE SE CUIDEN MUCHO, USTED DONDE ESTUDIA, MI HIJA LE DICE
QUE EN EL COLEGIO TECNICO DEL COMERCIO Y LE DICEN, NO SEA MENTIROSA
USTED ESTUDIA EN EL COLEGIO DIEGO HERNANDEZ Y SU HERMANO EN ESTOS
MOMENTOS ESTA EN INTERIORES LAVANDO EL FRENTE DE LA CASA, CUIDENSE
MUCHO"
Efectivamente mi hija estudia en el colegio diego hernandez y mi
hijo en ese momento hacia el aseo al frente de la casa, lo que supone
que estaban vigilando la casa y es un mensaje claro para mí.
Lo anterior lo denunciamos a la fiscalia y al departamento administrativo de segurdidad (D. A. S.)
NUEVAMENTE ME TOCA SACAR MI FAMILIA DE BARRANCABERMEJA, PERO YO
ESPERO QUE USTEDES SEAN SOLIDARIOS Y QUE POR INTERMEDIO DE SUS
ORGANIZACIONES SE PRESIONE AL GOBIERNO COLOMBIANO PARA QUE SE
INVESTIGUE Y SE CASTIGUE A LOS RESPONSABLE Y SE SALVAGUARDE LA VIDA DE
MI FAMILIA, YO COMO SIEMPRE SEGUIRE AQUI EN BARRANCA EN MI LUCHA PERO
NECESITO PROTEGER A MI FAMILIA, Y NO TENGO RECURSIOS ECONOMICOS PARA
SACARLOS Y HE SOLICITADO UNA AYUDA HUMANITARIA AL ESATDO. Y HASTA EL
MOMENTO NO HAY NADA
CON MUCHO CARIÑO
WILLIAM MENDOZA
Colombia: Former Coca-Cola Union
President Kidnapped
TAKE ACTION to demand the immediate release of former Coca-Cola bottle worker and union president, Alfredo Porras Rueda!
SEND LETTERS to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez, Vice
President Francisco Santos, and Minister of the Interior Fernando
Londono Hoyos ? addresses listed below.
On
December 31, 2002, Alfredo Porras Rueda was detained by the Columbian
government. In a televised statement hours later, General Jairo Duvan
Pineda, commander of the Fifth Division of the Colombian Army, accused
Rueda of being a member and ideologue of the insurgent group Ejercito
de Liberación Nacional (ELN).
Rueda worked at Coca-Cola? s bottling plant in Bucaramanga, and
was President of the local SINALTRAINAL union ? National Food Industry
Workers Union. He was forced to leave amid numerous death threats and
assassination attempts triggered by false accusations made by Coca-Cola
management against him and the food workers? union. Corporate
representatives have repeatedly accused workers of organizing with
insurgent groups simply because of workers? struggle for their rights.
Rueda was not the first Colombian Coca-Cola worker to face intense
harassment and persecution. On August 31, 2002, Adolfo de Jesus Munera
? also a Coca-Cola employee and President of the SINALTRAINAL local in
the town of Barranquilla ? was murdered. Local law enforcement
officials have still not launched an investigation into the case.
According to SINALTRAINAL? s national leadership, both instances
highlight the persecution of social activists and the criminalization
of social and labor protest. Coca-Cola and the Colombian Government
must be held responsible for these criminal partnerships.
SINALTRAINAL is asking human rights and social justice
organizations, as well as everyone in support of workers? rights, to
write the Colombian Government and demand:
- the immediate release of Alfredo Porras Rueda;
- an end to harassment and persecution of workers and union leaders;
- an investigation into Coca-Cola management? s role in the death of Adolfo de Jesus Munera.
Background to the Struggle
SINALTRAINAL has been the victim of a systematic campaign of
destruction, which has included: the assassination of 14 union leaders,
half of which worked at various Coca-Cola plants; death threats; forced
displacements; the incarceration of workers and union leaders on false
charges; raids of union offices, cooperatives and union members? homes;
union de-certification; extortion and kidnapping of union members in
order to force them to renounce their right to association; and the
violation of collective agreements. In addition, hundreds of workers
have been fired from their jobs over the past decade. As a result,
SINALTRAINAL has seen its membership decrease by over fifty percent.
The Colombian state has been an accomplice to the actions of the
transnational corporations, by neither investigating nor punishing
those responsible for carrying out these crimes. It continues to
promote policies that heighten terror and poverty via the privatization
of public sector companies and the creation of ?free-trade? zones.
According to the Colombia trade union confederation, CUT,
148 unionists were killed in Columbia in 2002. Of these,
42 were leaders, including five national union presidents.
Action
Write the Colombian Government and demand that they stop their policies of corporate militarism!
President of the Republic of Colombia Dr. Alvaro Uribe Velez Palacio de Narino Carrera 8 No. 7-26 Santafe de Bogota, Colombia auribe@presidencia.gov.co/rdh@presidencia.gov.co
Vice President of the Republic of Colombia Francisco Santos
Consejeria Presidential de Derechos Humanos Calle 7, No. 654, Piso 3
Santafe de Bogota, Colombia infprotocol@mindefensa.gov.co
Minister of the Interior and Justice Fernando Londono Hoyos
Ministerio del Interior y Justicia Palacio Echeverry, Carrera 8a, No.
8-09, Piso 2o Santafe de Bogota, Colombia mininterior@myrealbox.com
For more information, visit the following websites:
- U. S./Labor Education in the Americas Project
www.usleap.org/Colombia/ColombiaHome.html
- Coke Watch www.cokewatch.org
- ActionLA www.peacenowar.net/#colombia
Labor
Alerts is a service provided by the Campaign for Labor Rights
(Washington, DC) Information in this alert was provided by the
Colombia Solidarity Campaign (UK)