The Building Industry Group — the combined Victorian building unions — will show its solidarity with Colombian workers on July 22 by bringing a delegation of stewards from local building sites to an annual rally against Coca-Cola in Melbourne. Green Left Weekly's Carlene Wilson spoke to Electrical Trades Union (ETU) organiser David Mier about Colombia, Coca-Cola and solidarity action.
Last October, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) sent a delegation of union officials to Colombia and Chile in solidarity with the workers' movements in those two countries. Mier was an ETU representative on the delegation.
Colombia is a dangerous place to be a trade unionist: Unionists are regularly murdered, kidnapped, tortured, beaten or simply disappeared. Their families are often threatened and many have been displaced.
The International Labour Organisation has no office in Colombia. Non-government organisations and social organisations attempting to alleviate the problems faced by workers also come under attack.
This means that international solidarity plays an important part in protecting trade unionists in Colombia. The presence of international observers, who report on the situation in Colombia, seems to be one of the few things that keeps the current government in check.
The 30-year-long internal conflict in Colombia is at the heart of the problem. The government is fighting a civil war against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), two leftist-inspired groups who control substantial parts of the country.
The conflict has its roots in the poverty caused by multinational corporations' ownership and exploitation of the rich mineral resources of Colombia.
During its visit, the ACTU delegation met with many unionists and social organisations. For Mier, the most moving experience was seeing the shanty towns where the poor and displaced attempt to survive. He described scenes of abject poverty — from people living in dirt-floor huts made of sheet metal, plastic and bamboo, to a baby sleeping in a milk-crate crib.
Mier and the ETU have already raised many thousands of dollars to assist union projects in both Chile and Colombia. This has meant convincing workers here to put their hands in their pockets. Mier admits that there are hurdles to sometimes overcome, such as racism, but that most people are convinced after hearing some first-hand experiences. "People need to be told the story by people they believe", he said, adding that the stewards networks can play this role.
In a country where the murder and intimidation of trade unionists is commonplace, Coca-Cola has managed to stand out from the crowd for its viciousness. It's Colombian bottling companies have decimated the union and are implicated in the murder of at least nine activists and officials in the last 12 years — at least one shot at his machine in the factory.
Its use of paramilitary gangs to intimidate workers into resigning from the union spurred the international solidarity campaign.
Mier stressed that the July 22 rally will be the beginning of an ongoing campaign: "We assist our fellow trade unionists in any way we can — with financial and political support and solidarity." Mier would like to see the rally as an annual event that gets bigger each year, as more unionists spread the word on the job.
A more controversial aspect of the international campaign is the boycott of Coca-Cola products. ETU and Maritime Union of Australia offices in Melbourne don't have Coke machines and at some MUA sites, no Coke is sold. Spreading such a boycott has potential but it's a slow process when dealing with a multinational corporation like Coca-Cola.
In the meantime, activists like Mier are working to raise awareness and much-needed funds. They also hope for further union delegations to extend the links of international solidarity.
[Carlene Wilson is the Workers Power representative on the Socialist Alliance national executive and an active member of the Colombia Demands Justice Committee in Melbourne. See the Activist Calendar on page 23 for details of campaign events.]
From Green Left Weekly, July 14, 2004.
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