News > March 31, 2004
Cola Wars
Striking unionists battle Coke and paramilitaries
By Mischa Gaus
Protesting a mass firing of union leaders, 30 Coca-Cola workers in Colombia began a hunger strike March 15, which was met by death threats from paramilitaries known to have worked on the company’s behalf in the past.
A group of 91 workers—nearly three-fourths union leaders—was dismissed in February after Coca-Cola closed several plants. Protesters say the company targets union shops, and the hunger strikers in eight Colombian cities demand reinstatement of the fired workers.
A group affiliated with the country’s most notorious paramilitaries, the AUC, released a statement declaring war on the union leaders and promising to “finish them all off” if they do not leave the country in three months.
Paramilitaries acting with at least tacit approval of Colombian Coca-Cola officials are suspected in the murder of seven Coca-Cola unionists in recent years and the kidnapping and torture of others. About 3,600 Colombian union members have been killed in the last two decades, most at the hands of right-wing paramilitaries.
Daily updates from the hunger strikers detail threatening phone calls, police harassment, government indifference and company disciplinary hearings for strikers.
SINALTRAINAL, the Colombian Coca-Cola union, says 500 workers have been forced into retirement since September by consolidation, and when 91 workers refused the lump-sum buyout, they were fired. The workers’ collective bargaining agreement says they should be transferred, and even though a Colombian judge in January upheld that principle, the country’s labor ministry ruled against the workers.
“The ministry gives mixed results depending upon who is in power,” says Daniel Kovalik, counsel for the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Coca-Cola filed in a Florida court on behalf of tortured and murdered union members. “Certainly, under the current [Colombian President Alvaro] Uribe administration, it is antagonistic toward the workers.”
Coca-Cola called the hunger strike “unfortunate,” saying it treated all employees fairly.
Anti-sweatshop student groups are pressuring their administrations to request an investigation of the violence against Coca-Cola workers. One school—DePaul University in Chicago—has asked the Worker Rights Consortium, which monitors compliance with the codes of conduct that corporations sign with colleges, to step in.
Acting at the behest of its affiliate schools, the WRC has investigated apparel factories worldwide. An agency official said examining Coca-Cola would be a natural extension of the group’s scope because some member schools have licensing contracts with the company.
“We see this as the same issue, just in a different industry,” says Jon Rodney, a University of California-Berkeley anti-sweatshop activist. “The university’s logo and image is tainted by this kind of exploitation and violence.”
-
subscribe to print magazine
-
email this article to a friend
-
Reader Comments
-
extended discussion >>>Continued...
Discussions with more than 5 comments are continued on our special discussion page to encourage continuity and ease of use. There are currently 7 posts.
Member Login
Also by Mischa Gaus
- No Match? No Mas!
The Department of Homeland Security is trying to force employers to either fire workers whose names and Social Security numbers don't match. Widespread job loss often results when the government dons its immigration-enforcement blinders - The Olympic Hustle
Chicagoans are already beginning to fear what hosting the 2016 Summer Games might do to their city - Doing It For Themselves
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers turns 'corporate social responsibility' from oxymoron into reality - Interrogations Behind Barbed Wire
Who's to blame for America's new torture techniques? - Starbucks Gets Wobbly
Embattled baristas at the coffee giant turn to the Industrial Workers of the World for solidarity unionism - Students vs. Sweatshops, Round III
The Designated Supplier Program targets college clothing companies
and get a
free, signed copy
of Rick Perlstein's new book Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America!
Popular Discussions
- Feeding the Beast
In order to weaken federal agencies, the Bush administration has expanded them to the point of collapse
47 posts since Aug 18 08 - Gun-toters in La-La Land
34 posts since Jul 10 08 - McSexist
McCain's War on Women
30 posts since Jul 21 08 - Is the Fourth Estate a Fifth Column?
Corporate media colludes with democracy's demise
21 posts since Jul 11 08 - Why Soldiers Rape
Culture of misogyny, illegal occupation, fuel sexual violence in military
19 posts since Aug 13 08
© 2004 In These Times | Reprint Policy | Privacy Policy | Powered by Expression Engine | RSS Feeds
