Why should we boycott Coca-Cola?

Luis Eduardo Garcia

Luis Eduardo García has been working for Coca-Cola in Colombia for the last 25 years, the same length of time he has been a member of the trade union SINALTRAINAL. He is currently touring Britain and Ireland to raise awareness about the situation of trade unionists in Colombia, and specifically in that country's Coca-Cola bottling plants. He is calling for more people and organisations to join the boycott against Coca-Cola products pioneered in Ireland by the Latin America Solidarity Centre. While here, he spoke to An Phoblacht

An Phoblacht: What is the situation for Coca-Cola workers in Colombia?

Luis Eduardo García: Coca-Cola initiated a criminalisation process against the union. It harassed workers so they would not join the union, and it has described union membership as treason to the company. We are penalised by the company whenever we distribute union leaflets or newsletters in the bottling plants. However, the right to join a union is not only recognised in Colombian law, but it is also included in the constitution. However, Coca-Cola is trying to impede our union activities, knowing that this is against the law.

Furthermore, Coca-Cola has punished us for our union activities by claiming publicly that our activities and our demands have been sanctioned by the guerrillas and in this way linking our activities with terrorism. Making our activities look illegal is how they scare those workers who are not already members of the unions from joining.

How has this affected SINALTRAINAL activities in Coca-Cola bottling plants?

The fact that we are accused of being linked to terrorists has affected us deeply. In Colombia the right-wing paramilitaries have been very active against trade unionists. For example, in Carepa, five Coca-Cola workers, members of SINALTRAINAL, were killed by paramilitaries. Two of them were murdered inside the bottling plant. The paramilitaries set fire to the union office in Carepa, forcing union members to leave their jobs. And today, those workers and their families are still unemployed.

In Bucaramanga, in Santander, there is another Coca-Cola bottling plant and three workers were arrested by the security forces while carrying out their union activities inside the company plant. I was one of them. We were arrested and taken to a high security prison.

It took us six months to prove, through evidence and witnesses accounts, that the charges pressed against us by the bottling company were calumnies, part of a plot to damage the standing of the trade union and the workers. We were freed and the judge found that the testimonies of some of the witnesses presented by the bottling plant were untrue.

Our families went through very difficult times, as during that time we were imprisoned there was no income in our households. Our families lived on the solidarity of our colleagues and the support from NGOs. Our sons and daughters stopped attending school, as we did not have the money to pay for their education, but also because the other students bullied them, accusing us, their fathers, of being terrorists and criminals. This generated psychological problems, and some of the kids later required psychological help and counselling. Some of our kids are still afraid of the security forces, as they believe they are going to arrest us again.

All this has been denounced in Colombia. But so far, no one has been brought to justice for the crimes against trade union workers.

How and why was it decided to boycott Coca-Cola products?

We had to look for an alternative way to resist, survive and live. This is why we opted for an international campaign. The Steelworkers' Union in the US supported us when we decided to press charges against Coca-Cola for the company's actions in Colombia. We have appealed to a Federal Court in the US so that Coca-Cola will have to answer for the damage and pain it has caused; we want the truth of what happened to be known by the world and for those responsible to be punished.

The charges came to international attention after we organised three public tribunals in Atlanta, Brussels and Colombia on 22 June, 10 October and 5 December 2002, respectively. More than 50 organisations from around the world attended the meetings. There was a final declaration condemning the Coca-Cola bottling plants' prosecution, murder and imprisonment of trade unionists and demanding that the company redress the damages caused to the trade unions.

We also asked Coke to stop using Genetically Modified organisms in their products and reminded them that water is a natural resource and that as they are using our water to generate benefits for their business, they should invest part of that money to improve the environment.

We want them to put together a code of conduct to define how Coca-Cola, its partners and its managers should behave towards their workers and local communities. There was a list of 27 demands to Coca-Cola. This document was handed to the company in Colombia in January this year.

It was then that the idea of the boycott came into being, to express international solidarity with SINALTRAINAL and its workers; to remember Isidro Segundo Gil, one of the workers killed in Carepa; and in support of the families, orphans and widows of trade unionists killed because of the war in Colombia.

Coca-Cola says they worried about our lives and that they have protected us. That is not true. If we had any protection it was through the Interior Ministry. Coca-Cola does not care about the security of its workers. They have not even expressed their concern for the killings or the threats against their workers. Forty-eight representatives of SINALTRAINAL have been forcibly displaced from their hometowns. The lives of 67 have been threatened; 50 have been forced into exile.

What was Coca-Cola's reaction to the boycott?

Coca-Cola sent one of their managers to Ireland. He has spoken to students and it seems he said that the relationship with trade unions, including SINALTRAINAL was very good, that the boycott is damaging the company and it would cause the layoff of workers.

We do not believe any of that. First, Coca-Cola has sacked ten thousand workers in Colombia though no boycott was being carried out. On 9 September it closed ten of its plants in Colombia - in some of them, SINALTRAINAL was not even represented as a trade union. The threat to the workers comes from Coca-Cola, which is developing mega-plants, reducing costs and paying workers very low wages.

Coca-Cola has the power to decide when the boycott will end. We, the workers, are ready to sit down and look into the situation and solve the problems.

The boycott was launched on 22 June this year. After only three months, the increasing numbers of people supporting the boycott have shown to us the solidarity and support of many people around the world.

The whole point of the boycott is to get Coca-Cola to sit and talk to the trade unions and for an international commission to look into the existing problems, our demands and also to get from the company a commitment to uphold and protect human rights. We want them to stop the abuses against their workers, and to put an end to arbitrary lay-offs of workers and factory closures.

What has been the reaction of the different groups you have met in Britain and Ireland?

In England, we met with the trade union UNISON and the Cuba and Colombia support organisations, and they expressed their total support to the boycott, and told us that our fight is fair as it aims to defend life.

In Ireland, we have been supported by the students' union, which has expressed their support to the boycott. We know about the difficulties and that some organisations do not share our initiative. We do not know their reasons, but even without their support we will continue with the campaign, as we cannot renounce this form of protest because it is international solidarity that keeps us alive as individuals and as a trade union.

We met Ireland's trade unions. Their position is that the boycott is not the best way to deal with the company. We, as SINALTRAINAL, believe the boycott is the way, as many other organisations around the world have told us. We respect their position but we consider that when it comes to defending lives, there should not be opposition to the boycott. I explained to them our problems and how brutal are the conditions we are working under within Coca-Cola. We have decided not to criticise their position, we will respect it, but the invitation for them to join the boycott is still there.

There are friends in different countries who have facilitated us to explain our situation, receiving us in their homes. This shows the real meaning of international solidarity to us, the workers of Coca-Cola, of Colombia, and to all the members of the Unitary Congress of Workers (CUT).

What other actions have you been taking in Colombia?

In Colombia we have created an international observatory to keep an eye on the behaviour of corporations towards their workers, in terms of respect for workers' rights and human rights. An International Embassy has also been created to investigate the social difficulties faced by workers and we are running a campaign of awareness in conjunction with the communities to promote human rights, mobilising these communities to demand from the government respect for civil society. We are trying to rebuild the social fabric so badly damaged by decades of conflict.

SINALTRAINAL also represents workers in Nestlé. Ten trade unionists working with Nestlé have been killed by paramilitaries. On 17 September, this company sacked 183 workers and their positions were filled by short-term workers, which allowed Nestlé to offer these workers meagre wages and bad working conditions.

In 2004, SINALTRAINAL and the workers of Nestlé in Switzerland will organise a public tribunal to judge the activities of this corporation and we are inviting different organisations, trade unions and our friends from around the world to take part, to keep an eye on the news and to make sure that it will be a success for the workers.

Finally, do you believe the boycott is being successful?

That is not for me to say. Ask the students in the US, in Ireland, and the different organisations in Mexico, Canada, India, Brazil, and Britain. They are supporting us and we believe that is the most positive result we could achieve.