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KILLER COKE
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"Students will be highlighting numerous human rights abuses that the company is
accused of being involved in. These include the murder of numerous union officials at
bottling plants in Colombia, the environmental devastation in India, and other workers
rights violations across the world."
Campaign Director Ray Rogers will be speaking and holding organizational meetings at
the University of Alberta and Grant Macewan College in Edmonton, Canada, on
Monday, January 29th, and Tuesday, January 30th. For further information, contact
Aaron Chubb, Working Group Coordinator, Alberta Public Interest Research Group
(APIRG) or Leah Orr, APIRG Outreach Coordinator. Office phone no. (780) 492-0614.
This report from the IUF goes on to state: "Union-busting is a traditional management
reflex at Coke Pakistan. In Central Pakistan, unions were busted in Lahore and
Gujranwala and union officers have been dismissed. At Rahim Yar Khan, the union
president was dismissed in 2001 and only reinstated after a tough 3-year legal battle
the company continues to contest.
"Where dismissals alone fail to break the union, massive casualization has become the
main management tool for maximizing insecurity and limiting union bargaining power.
At the Rahim Yar Khan plant, 6-700 casual workers are employed at peak season -
including 250 "seasonal" workers employed year round and some 50 who have worked
at the plant for 5 or more years. To further restrict the potential union membership
base, 200 permanent workers are excluded from union membership after having been
reclassified as "managers" or "supervisors" — despite the fact that they work as
operators and have no management authority."
These abuses described by the IUF, are very reminiscent of what has been going on in
Colombia against SINALTRAINAL — Union busting and casualization of workers.
It was also recently reported that Coca-Cola Enterprises "announce[d] a swathe of job
cuts in the U.S. next month, according to local reports…the total number of jobs under
threat is said to be around the 'four-digit range'."
US: CCE likely to cut US jobs," January 22, 2007, just-drinks.com
Judge Jose E. Martinez, the Florida federal judge whose rulings have repeatedly limited
legal options for plaintiffs seeking to hold Coca-Cola accountable for crimes and human
rights violations in Colombia, is entangled in a web of questionable ties to the world's
largest beverage company, the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke has recently discovered.
U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez, elevated to the bench by President Bush in
November 2002, is a proud and active alumnus of the University of Miami (UM) and its
law school. He is "best known for his sideline: color commentator on Spanish radio for
Los Huracanes," referring to the UM football and baseball teams, according to the
Miami Herald (11/23/02).
"Everything we have learned about Judge Martinez's connections to the interests of the
University of Miami, its Coke-subsidized athletic department, Coca-Cola, and his
former law firm suggests at least the appearance of impropriety, if not actual bias,"
said Ray Rogers, director of the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke. "To preserve the
integrity of the judicial process, we believe he must be recused from the Coca-Cola
cases."
Martinez has had a bad habit of not disclosing apparent conflicts of interests. In
February 2005, Martinez failed to mention he was a Eucharistic minister, a spiritual
leader who serves communion during Catholic mass, when he overturned a verdict
compelling the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami to pay a woman $40,000 plus
attorney fees.
Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, "Judge Jose Martinez and Coca-Cola: Conflict-
of-Interest Pattern Emerges," January 11, 2007
Read Release
Miami New Times, "Have a Coke and a Trial," By Francisco Alvarado, January
16, 2007
Read Article
UAW, Local 122 4-U, "Local 122 - A Coke-Free Zone," December 2006
Read Page 3 for article
UAW Local 122 in Ohio passed a resolution "That UAW Local 122 will not serve Coke
products in our hall," and "That we will share this resolution with other UAW bodies
and urge them to take similar action."
Read Resolution
Thanks so much to Carpenters Union Local 75 and UAW Local 122 for their support and
solidarity.
5. Op-Ed Article: "Campaign to Stop Killer Coke vs. The Coca-Cola Co."
The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke released an op-ed article for college press and
others. Coke's Director of Global Labor Relations, Ed Potter, has been posting op-ed
articles and ads in the college press filled with lies and misrepresentations. Our article
is an attempt to respond to these lies. The article highlights Coca-Cola's involvement in
Colombia, India, Mexico and the Sudan (Darfur).
In response to requests from around the world for Campaign materials, the Campaign
has had new stickers and small 5.5" x 8.5" posters produced for use in local
campaigns. If interested, students around the world can write us to get these
materials.
See 5.5" X 8.5" Posters
See New Stickers, 3.25" x 4.25"
Order Posters, Stickers & Fliers
Print out three of the stickers, six to a page
Print out three additional stickers, six to a page
In addition to the new stickers and posters, the Campaign has produced a revised
community flier which now includes as an issue Coke's continuing to operate in the
Sudan, ignoring genocide in Darfur and paying fines for violating U.S. sanctions.
Print out side one of community flier
Print out side two of community flier
Sudan has been under the global spotlight for many years regarding the murder, rape
and other severe abuses of hundreds of thousands in the Darfur region in which 2
million people have been displaced by a conflict perpetrated by the Sudanese
government.
Disregarding the above, The Coca-Cola Company continues to operate in the Sudan,
ignoring the massive tragedy in Darfur and paying fines for violating U.S. sanctions.
In February 2006, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Treasury
Department reported that it had reached an enforcement settlement with Coca-Cola in
which the company "remitted $136,500 to settle allegations of violations of the Sudan
sanctions occurring between June 2002 and April 2004. OFAC alleged that Coca-Cola
exported to its bottler in Sudan services not authorized by its OFAC license and
disregarded or evaded certain OFAC license restrictions."
According to The New York Times (Oct. 24, 2006), Coke's Sudan factory "churns out
100,000 bottles of Coke, Sprite and Fanta per hour [with] Coke syrup legally exported
to Sudan under an exemption for food and medicine." Outrageously Coke takes
advantage of the "exemption for food and medicine" to sell its nutritionally worthless
and medically harmful sugar-laden drinks.
Furthermore, Nat Hentoff has noted that "the United States has placed certain trade
restrictions on Sudan. Yet gum arabic is exempted and it is the number one export of
Sudan. Coca-Cola and the other major soft drink conglomerates need gum arabic. So
what do we do? We proudly proclaim that we've got sanctions on Sudan, but we
exempt gum arabic." Read Hentoff Article
Chicago Tribune, "Some faith groups say bottled water immoral," By Rebecca
U. Cho, December 15, 2006
Read Article
"Rooted in the notion that clean drinking water, like air, is a God-given resource that
shouldn't be packaged and sold, a fledgling campaign against the bottling of water has
sprung up among people of faith. And though the campaign is at a relative trickle, and
confined mostly to left-leaning religious groups, activists hope to build a broad-based
coalition to carry the message that water should not be available only to those who
can afford it."
The Globe & Mail, "The religious war on bottled water: Church groups decry
profit-fuelled craze," By Martin Mittelstaedt, September 23, 2006
Read Article
"Some churches in Canada have started to urge congregants to boycott bottled water,
citing ethical, theological and social justice reasons. Bottled water, they argue, is
morally tainted and should be avoided.
" 'I can't stand the whole idea' of bottled water, she said, citing the added garbage
from discarded bottles and the greenhouse-gas emissions that spew from trucks that
deliver it.
"Ms. Geraets, the Ottawa Lutheran, said water is 'a sacred gift' from God, and humans
should act as stewards and not debase it by turning it into a marketable item. 'You
don't sell a gift,' she said."
"It is with great sorrow that we announce that Ms. Mailamma, the leader of the anti-
Coca-Cola struggle in Plachimada in Kerala, passed away on January 6, 2007.
Mailamma was a central figure in the campaign to hold Coca-Cola accountable for
water shortages and pollution in the area, and it was under her leadership that the
community forced the Coca-Cola bottling plant to shut down in March 2004. The plant
has remained shut down since."
India Resource Center, "Icon of Anti Coca-Cola Struggle, Mailamma, Passes
Away," January 7, 2007
Read Article
ibnlive.com, "Kerala's anti-Coke crusader is dead," January 7, 2007
Read Article
India Resource Center, "Icon of Coca-Cola Campaign Receives Speak Out
Award," October 8, 2005
Read Article
Members of Hands Off Venezuela and War on Want joined Colombia Solidarity
Campaign on its emergency protest outside the Colombian Embassy in luxurious
Knightsbridge, London on 21 December. Picketers demanded the release of Telesur
journalist Fredy Muñoz detained by Colombian authorities since 19 November, and
handed in a letter of protest demanding that Vice-President Santos withdraws his
comments targeting food and drinks workers union SINALTRAINAL.
On 12 December Santos attacked the union's fight for justice from notorious
multinationals Coca Cola, Nestlé and other private corporations, and contended that
they are pushed by "sectors of the extreme left, radicals infiltrated into trade union
sectors that are generating absolutely absurd campaigns against the corporations". In
Colombia this is a green light for paramilitary attack and, following Santos prompt, two
days later the 'Black Eagles' left a death threat inside the home of Barranquilla
SINALTRAINAL activist EURIPIDES YANCE, also targeting his fellow Coca-Cola workers
LIMBERTO CARRANZA, CAMPO QUINTERO and several local trade union, student and
social movement leaders, as well as defenders of human rights. The Black Eagles gave
their targets one week to leave, or else.
Colombia Solidarity calls on Santos, who is formally responsible for human rights
within the government, to withdraw his prejudicial comments against SINALTRAINAL,
do everything possible to ensure the life and safety of the people targeted in the Black
Eagles death threat and their families, and to instigate a thorough criminal
investigation into the intellectual and material authors of the death threat.
Christmas and New Year is a notoriously dangerous time for Colombian trade
unionists, a killing season when paramilitaries are let off the leash free of international
scrutiny. It is therefore particularly important that protests continue worldwide.
Further actions are planned in Bristol, Barcelona and Sydney.
a. From Ireland
From Kevin: "I am a member of the Irish Boycott Killer Coke campaign. I would like to
forward you the details of an action we partook in last weekend.
"In short, Ireland's Gaelic Athletic Association (the largest sporting organisation in the
country) and the Australian Football League (ditto) stage an annual challenge series,
playing a compromise set of rules, as our two games are rather similar. The latest
series took place in Ireland over the last two weekends, the second leg of which is
played in Dublin's 82,500 seater Croke Park. Croke Park, incidentally, is the fourth
largest stadium in Europe and the largest in the world that is owned byan amateur
organisation. Prior to the game, approximately 2,500 leaflets were distributed to the
crowd approaching the stadium, receiving generally positive feedback. A number of us
proceeded into the game where we did a banner drop in the packed-out stadium.
"While we only managed to keep the banner up for about half and hour (it was actually
so large that people in the tier below complained of having their view obstructed), the
action as a whole was a resounding success and can hopefully inspire others to
replicate it (although I would recommend a shorter banner)."
b. From Boston
From Mike: "On the National Day of Action against McDonald's [Nov. 4], called by the
Coalition of Immokalee Workers, we will visit several McDonald's in Downtown
Crossing to hold the accountable for profiting from poverty, slavery and the
exploitation of Florida's migrant farmworkers.
After the protest: "Last Saturday , we held our protest inside the Copley Marriott
Hotel, where the Coca-Cola-sponsored Intercollegiate Business Convention was taking
place. We stood there, held Killer Coke signs and chanted 'Coca-Cola's killing
workers/Shut it down! shut it down!' and 'Coca-Cola's stealing water/Shut it down!
Shut it down!' Hundreds of people were listening and many approached us to ask for
information. We did this for over 10 minutes and then we were removed by security."
13. Colombia Govt's link to Paramilitary Groups
New evidence reveals strong ties to paramilitaries by the Colombian government. Both
The Boston Globe and The Washington Post have published major articles reporting
that "a powerful paramilitary commander is to appear in a special court Tuesday to
account for crimes that include massacres and assassinations" and that "the Colombian
government is under siege as evidence mounts of links between rightist death squads
and dozens of officials loyal to [Colombia] President Álvaro Uribe."
New York Times article
Boston Globe article in International Herald Tribune
Washington Post article
State of the Union, produced by Insight News for Channel 4 of Great Britain.
Our Campaign Director Ray Rogers went to Houston, Texas, to participate in the
Southern Human Rights Organizers' Conference in December 2006. Ray spoke at the
conference. The goal of SHROC is to bring together human rights organizers to discuss
common issues and develop more effective strategies for building a human rights
movement in the Deep South. The conference strengthened ties among human rights
organizers throughout the South and held a demonstration on Saturday, Dec. 9,
focusing on the struggles against Coca-Cola, Wal-Mart and McDonald's.
It was noted that there is growing anti-Coke sentiment in Chiapas, Mexico, because of
their excessive use of water resources. It sounds much the same as the problems in
India.
17. Major reports from the campaign that are useful in organizing
LABOR AND HUMAN RIGHTS: 'The Real Thing' in Colombia, By Lesley Gill
Read Report
War on Want, Press Release and Report, "Coca-Cola under fire as World Cup
comes to London, Released March 20, 2006
Read Release
Read Report, "Coca-Cola: The Alternative Report"
En Español
Video, "State of the Union," produced by Insight News for Channel 4 of Great
Britain.
Watch State of the Union
Because the demand for flyers was so strong, it took up too much server space. We
decided to leave the list online with the schools listed for which we have customized
flyers. If you need a copy of your flyer, please contact us and we'll email it to you as
soon as possible.
If your school, union or group is not listed and you would like a customized leaflet,
please contact us at StopKillerCoke@aol.com. Please state the name of your school
and the name of the sponsoring group, if any, and a local email address, if you want
us to put them into the flyer. If you want the flyer for a group, please state the name
of the group and an email address. Also, whenever you email the Campaign to Stop
Killer Coke, please include a phone number, if possible, in case we have a need to talk
with you.
In addition, there are numerous reports, resolutions and articles in the "Student
Activism" section that can be useful.
21. Please send photos, reports of events, etc. for the Campaign website
Please send photos, reports of events, and if you are in a school, union or organization
that has banned Coke products, please send us the resolution or a description of how
the decision was made. We would like the Campaign website to be up-to-date and to
share the information via our newsletter. (Whenever you email us, please include
your phone number and the best times to contact you, including weekends.)
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