One of the most significant human rights problems in Colombia nowdays is the repression against union activists. Companies, both national and international, have developed links to paramilitary forces who threaten and even kill union activists to keep their activities in check.
ILRF & USW Bring New Complaint Against Coca-Cola,
Alleging Complicity with The Colombian DAS
and AUC Paramilitaries In Killing of Labor Leader
June 5, 2006
Contact:
Terry Collingsworth (202) 347-4100, Ext. 104;
Daniel Kovalik (412) 562-2518
On Friday, June 2, 2006, the ILRF and USW filed a new Alien Tort Claims Act
case against the Coca-Cola Company and its Latin American Bottler, Coca-Cola
FEMSA. This new Complaint charges that managers at the Coke bottling plant
in Barranquilla, Colombia conspired with both the Colombian Administrative
Department of Security (“DAS”) and the AUC paramilitaries to intimidate,
threaten and ultimately kill SINALTRAINAL trade union leader Adolfo de Jesus
Munera on August 31, 2002. The Complaint further alleges that, despite a
number of warnings to Coca-Cola management in Atlanta that the management at the Barranquilla bottler has continued to meet with and provide plant access
to paramilitaries, the paramilitary infiltration of this bottling plant
continues unabated to this day. Meanwhile, these same paramilitaries have
continued to threaten SINALTRAINAL members and leaders with death and even
kidnapped the child of one SINALTRAINAL leader to pressure him into
refraining from his union activities.
These allegations come at a time when the DAS in Colombia has come under
fire for collaborating with paramilitary forces. In particular, credible
allegations have surfaced in recent weeks that the DAS, which has
responsibility to protect trade unionists under threat has actually been
creating and maintaining hit lists of trade union leaders and providing
these lists to the paramilitaries to act upon. These allegations also come
at a time when the Coca-Cola Company has been kicked off of numerous
campuses throughout the U.S. over allegations that it has failed to
adequately address such labor and human rights abuses in Colombia.
According to ILRF Executive Director Terry Collingsworth, “This new
Complaint underscores the need for The Coca-Cola Company to spend more of
its effort and resources in protecting the lives and well-being of its
workers in Colombia in lieu of focusing on its public relations campaign to
deflect the allegations of abuse being leveled against it.” There is no
question, however, that it is the Coca-Cola Company that is the proper
defendant in this case because it has complete control of its empire and
Coca-Cola managers have been traversing the United States claiming that the
Coca-Cola Compnay is taking all possible steps to address human rights
violations in its bottling plants in Colombia. USW Associate General Counsel
Daniel Kovalik states that “The continued assassination of trade unionists
in Colombia with the complicity of the Colombian DAS and military, as well
as corporate interests, calls into grave question the propriety of the
U.S.’s continued commitment to aid for the Colombian military forces.”
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Campaign to Stop KILLER COKE
We are seeking your help to stop a gruesome cycle of murders, kidnappings,
and torture of union leaders and organizers involved in daily life-and-death
struggles at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia, South America.
"If we lose the fight against Coca-Cola, we will first lose our union, next
our jobs and then our lives." SINALTRAINAL VIce President Juan Carlos Galvis
Please donate to the Campaign.
Learn the truth about The Coca-Cola Co.
"We believe the evidence shows that Coca-Cola and its corporate network are
rife with immorality, corruption and complicity in murder."
Campaign to Stop Killer Coke/Corporate Campaign, Inc. Director Ray Rogers
Visit www.KillerCoke.org
(718) 852-2808
(917) 779-0735