-Caveat Lector- http://www.truthout.com/0509.Steel.Coke-P.htm UNITED STEEL WORKERS OF AMERICA Coke to be Sued in U.S. Court for Human Rights Abuses in Colombia PITTSBURGH, Penn. -- 07.19.01 | The United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and the International Labor Rights Fund will file suit tomorrow, July 20, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Miami) against Coke and Panamerican Beverages, Inc., the primary bottler of Coke products in Latin America. Additional defendants include owners of a bottling plant in Colombia where trade union leaders have been murdered. The case was initiated by SINALTRAINAL, the trade union that represents workers at Coke facilities in Colombia. SINALTRAINAL has long maintained that Coke is among the most notorious employers in Colombia and that the company maintains open relations with murderous death squads as part of a program to intimidate trade union leaders. SINALTRAINAL is filing the case on July 20, Colombian Independence Day, to renew its campaign to highlight that Colombia holds the terrible distinction of being ranked number one in the world for the number of trade union leaders murdered each year. The suit alleges that Coke plays a key role in maintaining that distinction. Other Plaintiffs include the Estate of Isidro Segundo Gil, a trade union leader who was murdered while working at the Coke bottling plant in Carepa, Colombia. The suit alleges that the manager of that facility, owned by an American, Richard Kirby, who is also a defendant in this case, specifically threatened to kill the leaders of the union if they continued their union activities, and that he made good on the threat and ordered the murder of Mr. Gil. The other Plaintiffs are Luis Eduardo Garcia, Alvaro Gonzalez, Jose Domingo Flores, Jorge Humberto Leal and Juan Carlos Galvis, all leaders of SINALTRAINAL, who, while employed by Coke, were allegedly subjected to torture, kidnapping, and/or unlawful detention in order to intimidate them into ceasing their trade union activities. These Plaintiffs allege that Coke employees either ordered the violence directly, or delegated the job to paramilitary death squads that were acting as agents for Coke. "This case is extremely important for trade union and human rights," said Steelworkers President Leo Gerard. "If we can't get Coke, one of the best known companies in the world, to protect the lives and human rights of the workers at its world-wide bottling facilities, then we certainly have a long way to go in making the global economy safe for trade unionists. "While the offenses detailed in the Complaint occurred in an industry outside the Steelworkers' core jurisdiction," he added, "we are filing this case to show our solidarity with the embattled trade unions of Colombia. We absolutely must stand together to stop such criminal activity against our union brothers and sisters, regardless of where or in what industry it occurs." "The case is extremely strong from a legal perspective," said Terry Collingsworth, general counsel of the Washington, D.C.-based International Labor Rights Fund, who is co-counsel for the Plaintiffs, and has brought similar cases against Exxon Mobil and Unocal Corporation for human rights violations in Aceh, Indonesia and Burma, respectively. "There is no question that Coke knew about and benefits from the systematic repression of trade union rights at its bottling plants in Colombia, and this case will make the company accountable." The case is based on the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), a law passed by Congress in 1789 aimed at protecting the new nation's international reputation by enabling non-citizens to use federal courts to hold Americans accountable for violations of international law. "The Plaintiffs allege that Coke and the other defendants violated clear standards of international law by maintaining a willful campaign of terror against members and leaders of SINALTRAINAL," explained Dan Kovalik, a lawyer with the Steelworkers, who is co-counsel for the Plaintiffs and who interviewed many of the Coke victims in Colombia. In addition to pursuing legal remedies in federal court, the Steelworkers and the International Labor Rights Fund join with SINALTRAINAL in asking workers and consumers around the world to send a message to Coke to end the terror at the Coke facilities in Colombia and makes reparations to the victims. A copy of the Complaint will be available at: www.laborrights.org CONTACT: International Labor Rights Fund - Terry Collingsworth, 202/347-4100 Ext. 2 or United Steelworkers of America - Dan Kovalik, 412/562-2518 t r u t h o u t - http://www.truthout.com ================================================================ Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: *Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends ================================================================ <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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