www.newsandletters.org
|
|
NEWS & LETTERS, JUNE 2003
Stop Coke killings!
Chicago--Over 100 trade unionists and supporters marched
through the Pilsen neighborhood on May 3 to rally in front of the Coca-Cola
bottling plant on Cermak Road. The crowd had gathered to protest Coke’s
complicity in the murder of trade unionists in Coca-Cola’s bottling plants in
Colombia. Coca-Cola's Atlanta headquarters has frequently distanced itself from
responsibility for atrocities committed at any of its Latin American plants on
the grounds that the bottlers are locally owned. Coke has in particular
disclaimed responsibility for the murder of at least eight trade union leaders
at Coca-Cola in Colombia as at the hands of the semi-official death squads. The key speaker was Luis Cardona, a union leader from
Colombia, who survived to tell the tale because he and his family fled to the
U.S. from Colombian death squads. He has fought the efforts of the Bush
administration to deny him asylum, and is currently staying in Chicago. (See
March N&L) This Saturday rally was timed to the plant’s normal 2:00 pm
closing. For some reason the plant closed at noon this one day, so, as organizer
Jerry Mead said, one concrete result of the rally was giving Chicago workers an
extra two hours off. --Participant |
|
Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Dialogues l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search Published by News and Letters Committees |
