Colombia: Trade Unionists Threatened & Eliminated

Colombia: Trade Unionists Threatened & Eliminated
Saturday, 5 June 2010, 12:05 pm
Press Release: International Trade Union Confederation
Colombia: No Change in Routine of Threatening and Eliminating Trade Unionists

Brussels, 2 June 2010: Violence is becoming totally routine in Colombia. Once again, the ITUC, together with its regional organisation for the Americas, TUCA, and its Colombian affiliates, the CUT, CGT and CTC, have strongly condemned and expressed their deepest concern over the murders of Leslien Torcoroma Peñaranda Blanco and Francisco Atonio Abello Rebollo, and the threats levelled against Daíro Rúa, branch president of the mining and energy workers' union SINTRAMIENERGETICA, affiliated to CUT.

According to the information received by the ITUC, the trade unionists were murdered on account of their trade union activities. Leslien Blanco, a teacher affiliated to ASINORT, was murdered on her way to work. Francisco Abello had taken part, along with 185 workers, in the strike held between December 2009 and January 2010 in support of the demand for the recognition of the agricultural workers' union SINTRAINAGRO and the signing of a collective agreement.

The CUT trade union centre had intervened at the time of the strike, appealing to the Colombian president and vice president, as well as the Social Protection, Interior and Justice Ministries, to prevent the use of police violence and force to disperse the striking workers and to allow them to freely exercise their right to freedom of association and collective bargaining. It succeeded in averting another massacre of workers and contributed to the signing of the agreement that was finally concluded between SINTRAINAGRO and the management of Palo Alto. But there is no end to the murders.

Threats are also part of the tragic reality facing trade unionists in Colombia. Daíro Rúa was threatened and declared a 'military target' after opposing the sale of assets belonging to the workers.

More:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1006/S00101.htm

I'm still gagging from reading a post one of the tiny pool of wingerroonies who feed at the bottom of DU made when he suggested there isn't any violence in Colombia against union workers, etc., and claimed people of their class tend to be violent among themselves, and just kill each other off, probably through stupidity and drunkeness, and lack of character, unlike the Colombian fascists.

Threats against activists in Colombia must stop
NUPGE president James Clancy writes Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to demand direct intervention against murderous paramilitaries.

Ottawa (18 May 2010) - The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is urging Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to take direct action to protect trade unionists and other activists targeted by paramilitary goons in his South American country.

In a letter to Uribe, copied to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other Canadian political leaders, NUPGE president James Clancy says several "allies and friends" of the Canadian trade union movement received death threats earlier this month from a group known as the Black Eagles New Generation.

"We understand that organizations and individuals threatened include the leaders of the Afro-Colombian community councils of La Toma and Buenos Aires (Cauca), the Black Communities Process, the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), NOMADESC, national public university workers' union (SINTRAUNICOL) and the regional labour union CUT (Valle)," Clancy writes.

"Among those threatened is Berenice Celeyta with the organization NOMADESC. NUPGE and its Component, the British Columbia Government and General Employees’ Union (BCGEU/NUPGE), have been supporters of NOMADESC for a number of years. We find the use of threats against Berenice Celeyta very disturbing," he says.

"I am urging you and your government to take every possible step to ensure the safety and security of these individuals and their organizations."

Clancy says the same individuals received earlier threats last October and December, and despite promises by Colombian authorities to take action, the threats and violence have continued.

"As recently as last month, the Black Eagles paramilitaries were involved in the massacre of eight Afro-Colombian miners and left a ninth person wounded in La Toma, Cauca. Obviously these threats must be taken very seriously," Clancy says.

"It is troublesome that this latest paramilitary threat comes at the same time as the Canadian Parliamentary Committee on International Trade is considering Bill C-2, the implementing legislation for the Canada-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA)," he adds. "I cannot help but wonder if the threats are intended to silence critics of the proposed agreement."

More:
http://www.nupge.ca/content/3250/threats-against-columbian-trade-unionists-must-stop

May-24-2010 18:15
Coca-Cola's Murderous Record of Anti-Union Activity in Colombia Exposed
Ethan A. Huff Special to Salem-News.com
It is also important to note that the Coca-Cola Company owns numerous other beverage brands, including the healthy juice brand, Odwalla.


© Coca-Cola Company

(BOGOTA) - Coca-Cola: to many, it is simply the all-American cola that everyone grew up drinking. Originally created in the late 1800s as a medicine, Coca-Cola eventually evolved into one of the world's most popular soft drinks. Besides being a very unhealthy beverage, Coca-Cola has another dirty secret for which few people are aware; the Coca-Cola Company has been involved in a series of kidnappings involving union leaders and organizers at its Colombia bottling facilities. Many of those kidnapped have been severely tortured and even murdered by company thugs.

As shocking and unbelievable as all of this sounds, there is a trail of documented evidence against Coca-Cola for its crimes against union officials. In fact, back in 2001, the United Steelworkers of America and the International Labor Rights Fund, filed a joint lawsuit on behalf of SINALTRAINAL to address the problems in Colombia.

Javier Correa, President of the National Union of Food Industry Workers, and William Mendoza, President of the Barrancabermeja location in Colombia, have joined together with Ray Rogers, Director of the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, to bring light to the issue and push for an end to the atrocities.

How did it all start?

Most people recognize that unions are formed to protect workers from unfair treatment and abuse by employers. Though some do not operate as intended, the general idea of unions is to ensure that workers are receiving fair pay for their labor and that they are not being grossly extorted by those for whom they work.

U.S. laws have been designed to protect American workers who form labor unions from being threatened or silenced by the companies for whom they work, and while they are not perfect, their intent was for the best interests of American workers.

When workers at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia began to step up and organize unions, the Coca-Cola Company allegedly began to contract with paramilitary security forces to deal with leaders and organizers, something they would not legally be able to do in the U.S. Even today, these forces are using extreme tactics to silence anyone who would dare attempt to organize workers to form a union. These tactics include violent detention efforts, torture and even murder.

Internal Pentagon records that were eventually required to be made public revealed that Colombian troops connected with Coca-Cola's paramilitary forces were also being trained at the U.S. Army's School of the Americas (SOA) in Fort Benning, Georgia, to torture and murder those who conduct "union organizing and recruiting", distribute "propaganda in favor of workers", and "sympathize with demonstrators or strikes."

More:
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/may242010/killer-coke.php

Do you have a link?