From: Rachel Edelman (rachel_790@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Apr 10 2002 - 18:29:05 EDT
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--- Daisy Pitkin <daisy@afgj.org> wrote:
> To: "'usas@yahoogroups.com'" <usas@yahoogroups.com>
> From: Daisy Pitkin <daisy@afgj.org>
> Date: Wed, 10 Apr 2002 12:43:49 -0400
> Subject: [usas] Sign-on letter to Coca-Cola
>
> Dear USAS members,
>
> This is Daisy from Campaign for Labor Rights. I'm
> writing to ask that each
> of your local chapters sign on to a letter to
> Coca-Cola regarding the
> assassination, torture, and intimidation of union
> members at their bottling
> plants in Colombia. This letter is a kick-off to a
> larger campaign in
> support of Coke workers in Colombia - it will be
> presented to the company
> during their annual shareholder meeting later this
> month. USAS (as a
> national body) has already endorsed the letter, but
> in order to demonstrate
> the depth of support that exists for the campaign,
> we would also like local
> campus groups to sign on.
>
> Below are background information, a fact sheet, and
> the text of the letter.
> Please email me at CLR@afgj.org
> <mailto:CLR@afgj.org> if your group would
> like to sign on or if you have any questions.
> Thanks!
>
> In Solidarity,
> Daisy Pitkin
> National Coordinator
> Campaign for Labor Rights
> CLR@afgj.org
> 202-544-9355
>
> <><><><><>
> In this Alert:
> 1. Coca-Cola and the War on Unions in Colombia.
> 2. Student and Youth Sign-on Letter
> 3. Coca-Cola Fact Sheet
> 4. National Mobilization on Colombia, Washington DC,
> April 19-22
>
> <><><><><>
>
> COCA-COLA AND THE WAR ON UNIONS IN COLOMBIA
>
> The killing of trade unionists in Colombia increased
> by at least 50% in
> 2001, from 112 murders in 2000 to at least 171 in
> 2001, according to
> statistics gathered by Colombia's largest labor
> central, the CUT (Central
> Unitaria de Trabajadores). The 2001 figures are
> preliminary, and could grow
> to more than 200 if CUT's Human Rights Department
> confirms all of its
> outstanding reports of violence for last year. This
> is a difficult process
> because many local union officials, particularly
> those in rural areas, are
> reluctant to provide information because they fear
> retaliation by armed
> groups, especially paramilitaries.
>
> As a part of a campaign to support union organizing
> in Colombia, Campaign
> for Labor Rights is seeking student organizational
> endorsements for a letter
> to the Coca-Cola Company. The letter demands that
> Coke take responsibility
> for the assassinations of the trade union leaders at
> the bottling plants it
> buys from in Colombia (please see the student
> sign-on letter and Coca-Cola
> fact sheet below).
>
> We are gearing this letter toward students and youth
> because they make up a
> significant consumer base for Coca-Cola products-
> but the letter is just one
> part of this important new campaign. For Labor
> Alerts subscribers who are
> not students or are not a part of a student
> organization, we will keep you
> posted on this campaign and on ways you can act to
> support Coca-Cola workers
> in Colombia. Also, at the bottom of this Labor
> Alert is an announcement
> about the National Mobilization on Colombia - a
> great way to plug into
> organizing and action in support of trade unionists
> in Colombia.
>
> The hope of the Coke campaign is that pressure on
> different fronts -
> corporate and governmental - will slow the
> militarism in Colombia and to
> create political space for worker and other civil
> society organizing.
>
> The campaign is a coordinated effort among unions
> and labor rights
> organizations in Colombia and here in the U.S. The
> groups involved include
> the biggest Colombian Coke union, SINALTRAINAL,
> US/LEAP, the International
> Labor Rights Fund, the United Steelworkers of
> America, and the International
> Brotherhood of Teamsters to launch this campaign
> against Coca-Cola. The
> campaign is built around a lawsuit against Coke to
> take responsibility for
> its bottlers in Colombia.
>
> In the mid-80's, Coke took this responsibility with
> its bottlers in
> then-war-torn Guatemala and was able to stop a
> string of murders of Coke
> union leaders. The civil war in Colombia is no
> doubt getting worse. And
> this trend is made worse due to continued military
> aid from the U.S. and the
> recent congressional decision to give the country
> more military aid to fight
> "terrorism" in the country. Now the Bush
> Administration is considering not
> imposing any conditionality on the money sent - no
> way to ensure that human
> rights are respected.
>
> Before September 11, the excuse to send military aid
> to Colombia was the
> "drug war," and the money went from the government
> to the paramilitaries,
> organizations that, according to a Human Rights
> Watch study, are responsible
> for a vast majority of the killings in Colombia.
> Union members are targets
> (more unionists are murdered in Colombia than the
> rest of the world
> combined) because it is one of the few civil society
> movements supporting
> the peace process and speaking out against civil
> war.
>
> In the past few years, since the granting of US
> military aid to Colombia,
> the assassinations of trade unionists in Colombia
> have skyrocketed. Union
> members in Colombia are becoming causalities of the
> unmitigated "war against
> terror."
>
> <><><><><>
>
> STUDENT AND YOUTH ORGANIZATION SIGN-ON LETTER
>
> Below, please find the text of a sign-on letter to
> Coca-Cola written
> specifically for student and youth organizations to
> endorse. This letter
> will be presented at the Coca-Cola shareholders
> meeting on April 17th in New
> York. The deadline for signing-on is April 12.
>
> Students: Please consult your organization about
> endorsing this letter and
> contact CLR <clr@afgj.org> if your organization
> decides to sign-on. The
> preferred format would include the name of one
> student from the organization
> (for space reasons) and the organization's name.
>
> ** Local organizations and campus chapters of
> national student organizations
> are encouraged to sign-on. Getting as many local
> and campus chapter
> organizations as possible will be important to
> demonstrate the depth of
> support that exists for this campaign.
>
> The Letter:
>
> Douglas Daft
> Chairman
> Coca-Cola Company
>
> Dear Mr. Daft:
>
> We, the undersigned national and local student
> leaders from campuses across
> the country, are concerned about the violence and
> human rights violations
> committed against Coca-Cola workers around the
> world. We believe that
> Coca-Cola has a responsibility to ensure that the
> rights and safety of all
> workers who produce, bottle and distribute Coca-Cola
> products are protected.
>
> Recent news of the kidnapping, torture and murder of
> union workers at
> Coca-Cola bottling facilities in Colombia reminds us
> of Coke's history in
> Guatemala where union workers at a bottling facility
> there were assassinated
> in the 1970's and 80's. Again union workers in
> Guatemala are facing problems
> with Coke's bottlers while U.S. workers who produce
> Coca Cola's Minute Maid
> juices in Florida are subjected to extreme acts of
> intimidation and
> harassment. In fact, reports from Coca-Cola workers
> around the world suggest
> a pattern of human rights abuses that demands
> immediate attention.
>
> As students, we make up a significant consumer base
> for Coca-Cola products.
> Coca-Cola is a fixture at many of our schools and we
> are alarmed by these
> reports. As representatives of student organizations
> pledged to activism in
> the name of social justice we will be informing our
> fellow students about
> what is going on at Coca-Cola.
>
> Coca-Cola has an opportunity now to be a true global
> leader. We demand that
> Coke take immediate action to address the violence
> that has devastated
> Coca-Cola bottling plant workers in Colombia and
> negotiate an enforceable
> global agreement that will protect the rights and
> safety of workers who
> produce, package and distribute its products with
> Coke unions and worker
> representatives.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> (Your name, student/youth organization)
> (add school and location when applicable)
>
> <><><><><>
>
>
> COCA-COLA FACT SHEET
>
> [Provided by Carin Zelenko, Director, Office of
> Corporate & Strategic
> Initiatives, International Brotherhood of Teamsters]
>
> * Union workers at a Coca-Cola Bottling
> facility in Colombia, South
> America were kidnapped, tortured and murdered by
> paramilitary death squads
> according to news reports and a recent lawsuit filed
> against Coca-Cola and
> their bottler in Colombia.
>
> * The Colombian Union has long maintained
> that the company has open
> relations with murderous death squads as part of a
> program to intimidate
> trade union leaders.
>
> * The violence against Coca-Cola workers in
> Colombia is reminiscent
> of past atrocities committed against Coca-Cola
> workers in Guatemala when, in
> the late 1970's and early '80's union leaders there
> were assassinated.
>
> * An international human rights campaign
> forced Coke to take over
> operations in Guatemala in order to protect the
> safety of union workers.
> However, Coca-Cola recently turned these operations
> over to the same
> bottling company used in Colombia. The Guatemalan
> union has reported a
> breakdown in labor relations with new management.
>
> * In the United States, Teamster workers
> have experienced serious
> problems in Florida where Coca-Cola turned Minute
> Maid juice operations over
> to a separate processor. Since the end of a
> successful unfair labor
> practice strike in 2000, which drew national
> attention to product and plant
> safety concerns, Coke's juice processor has
> terminated all of the senior
> shop stewards and most Union supporters in a blatant
> and deliberate effort
> to intimidate workers.
>
> * In fact, since 1996 when Coca-Cola turned
> Minute Maid operations
> in Florida over to an outside processor, a worker
> has been killed on the
> job, there have been chemical leaks and explosions
> (causing plant shut
> downs, evacuations and worker hospitalizations),
> product recalls, and
> repeated reports of rats and roaches in areas near
> open product. Recently a
> 30-year employee (and senior shop steward) was fired
> for reporting a dead
> rat to an on-site USDA inspector.
>
> * These incidents, and others from around
> the world, suggest a
> pattern by Coca-Cola to refuse to take action or
> responsibility for the
> conditions under which their products are produced,
> bottled, and
> distributed.
>
> * The Campaign for Justice at Coca-Cola
> (www.cokewatch.org
> <http://www.cokewatch.org
> <http://www.cokewatch.org/> >) is calling on
> Coca-Cola to stop the violence in Colombia and
> negotiate a global agreement
> with its unions and workers representatives that
> will protect the rights and
> safety of workers who produce, bottle and distribute
> their protects.
>
> * For more information, contact Carin
> Zelenko, Director, Office of
> Corporate & Strategic Initiatives, International
> Brotherhood of Teamsters,
> (202) 624-8700.
>
> <><><><><>
>
> NATIONAL MOBILIZATION ON COLOMBIA, WASHINGTON DC,
> APRIL 19-22
>
> Demonstrate your support for transforming U.S.
> policy toward Colombia and
> the Andean region. Join thousands of labor and
> human rights supporters in
> Washington DC from April 19-22. The Colombia
> Mobilization will include
> panels of Colombia trade union speakers, labor
> workshops, and coordinated
> lobbying. For more information visit:
> www.colombiamobilization.org
>
> The web site includes:
> ~ A schedule of mobilization events.
> ~ Information on Housing for the mobilization and a
> "ride board."
> ~ Call for direct action.
> ~ Organizing packets.
> ~ Background information on the situation in
> Colombia
> ~ Breaking news about Colombia
> ~ A list of mobilization endorsers
>
> If you want to be part of a coordinated lobbying
> effort to support trade
> unionists in Colombia in Washington, DC on April
> 19th, contact:
> Daisy Pitkin, Campaign for Labor Rights,
> CLR@afgj.org
> Joan Axthelm, US/LEAP, usleapja@minspring.com
>
> There will be a meeting, during the afternoon of
> April 20th, of an emerging
> network of trade unionists and worker rights
> activists in the US who are
> working to support union activities in Colombia. If
> you want more
> information about this meeting, contact:
> Sandra Alvarez, sandra@globalexchange.org.
> Joan Axthelm, US/LEAP, usleapja@mindspring.com
> <mailto:usleapja@mindspring.com> .
>
> <><><><><>
> Campaign for Labor Rights Labor Alerts - 12,000
> subscribers
> To subscribe, email CLR@afgj.org
>
>
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