HUMOUR:

COKE CONQUERS THE WORLD:

And yet another image from the Adrian V blog.

HUMOUR:

THE 'MASTER DRINK' ?:

Like I promised here's another image from the Adrian V blog.

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-PAKISTAN:

COKE WORKERS IN PAKISTAN STRUGGLE FOR A UNION:

Coca-Cola is, not surprisingly, one of the corporate sponsors of this year's World Cup in South Africa. Yet they steadfastly refuse to play fair in their bottling plants across the world. Here's a story and appeal from the international union federation the IUF about the struggle for a real union amongst Coke workers in Pakistan.

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Coca-Cola Pakistan Greets New Union with Death Threats, Abduction, Extortion and Dismissals
Since forming a union at Coca-Cola's bottling plant in the southern Pakistan city of Multan in June 2009, members have met with death threats, abduction, firings, extortion, forgery and fraud. It's been a long wait for rights and recognition - and not exactly refreshing.

In addition to the threats and dismissals, management has manipulated the relevant authorities to stop the legal registration of the union. Workers' social security documents have been massively falsified to “transfer” regular workers to a fictitious labour contractor in order to 'prove' that they don't work for Coca-Cola, and can't join a union of Coca-Cola workers! Management created a yellow union – but even the alleged president of that union testified that he had never attended the founding meeting, was not the president and had never applied for registration!

The Multan plant is part of Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan Limited (CCBPL), jointly owned by Turkish bottler Coca-Cola Icecek (CCI) and The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) based in Atlanta, which sits atop the global Coca-Cola system.

The Multan workers need your support. Despite all these illegal acts the union officers and their supporters remain steadfast in their determination to win union recognition and become the IUF’s newest members in the Coca-Cola system.
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THE LETTER:

Please go to this link to send the following message to the Coca Cola company telling them that you support their Pakistani workers.

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To Ed Potter, Director Global Labor Relations, The Coca-Cola Company
Hüseyin Akin, President, International Operations CCI
Aliye Alptekin, Human Resources Director CCI
Ronald Jones, President, Middle East & Pakistan Region CCI

Dear Madam/Sirs

I am shocked and outraged to learn that management of your bottling plant in Multan, Pakistan, has committed an escalating series of illegal and criminal actions in an effort to block the establishment of the new union at the plant. According to reliable information these acts have included death threats, abduction, transfers, dismissals and the fraudulent falsification of employment records in a campaign to destroy the union.


These acts are in flagrant violation of international human rights norms and Conventions. I therefore call on you to ensure that: all acts of intimidation against members and supporters of the People's Employees Union at the Multan plant cease immediately; that the company cease its efforts to block the union's legal registration: that managers and other company employees who organized or committed such actions are identified and all those implicated in violence or threats of violence are removed; and that trade union rights are fully respected at the plant.

Yours sincerely,

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR/HUMAN RIGHTS:

KILLER COKE OFF CAMPUS:

The following is a repeat of an appeal published earlier this year here at Molly's Blog. The United Students Against Sweatshops are Renewing Their Campaign to get the Coca Cola Company off the campus of Indiana University to protest their long standing horrendous labour and environmental practices. Here's the appeal.

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Tell Indiana University to kick Coca-Cola off campus!:
For the last 3 years, students at Indiana University have been demanding that their administration cut its beverage contract with Coca-Cola. Coke is guilty of labor and environmental abuses around the world, including complicity in the murders of 10 union members in Colombia alone. Despite this, Indiana University administrators have re-opened contract negotiations with Coca-Cola, hoping to sign another contract!

Please email the Indiana University administration today to demand that they kick Killer Coke off campus!

You can also call Indiana University President McRobbie at (812) 855-4613. Below is a sample phone script:
Hello, my name is _____________ and I wanted to urge President McRobbie to end Indiana University's relationship with the Coca-Cola corporation. The evidence against Coke is overwhelming, and ending your relationship with them would send a strong message that they need to clean up their act. Indiana University is one of the nation's leading institutions of higher education, and should show its leadership by severing all ties with Coca-Cola. Thank you for your time.
Tell me more

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You can also go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to the authorities at Indiana University.

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THE LETTER:

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):

IU President Michael McRobbie Indiana University President Michael McRobbie
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Tell Indiana University to kick Coca-Cola off campus!
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
I'm writing to state my support for the Killer Coke campaign, led by No Sweat!, a student organization at Indiana University. I'm urging you to cease all business with the Coca-Cola corporation, because of what we deem to be Coke's inexcusable violations of human and workers' rights both here and abroad. These violations include:

-The contracting of paramilitary forces to murder, torture, unlawfully detain or effectively silence trade union leaders in Colombia;

-Overexploitation of water sources in India, Mexico, Ghana and elsewhere;

-Benefiting from hazardous child labor in sugar cane fields in El Salvador as documented by Human Rights Watch;

-Giving executives hundreds of millions of dollars in stock options and bonuses while laying off thousands of employees;

-A history of racial discrimination, fraudulent business practices, tax avoidance and corporate welfare schemes.

Because of all these things, it seems clear to me that Indiana University's duty as a leading institution of higher education in the United States, is to end its relationship with the Coca-Cola corporation. More than fifty other colleges and universities in the US and Canada have already taken similar action. I would urge you therefore, to act as a leader on this issue and take a stand in support of human and workers rights.
Sincerely,

cc:

Indiana University Board of Trustees

Indiana University Trustee A.D. King

Indiana University Trustee Jack Gill

Indiana University Trustee Philip Eskew

Indiana University Trustee Thomas Reilly Jr.

Indiana University Trustee William Cast

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Here's a little backgrounder on the activities of Coke in the country of Colombia.

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What's At Stake:

Students at Indiana University have repeatedly met with IU administrators to demand that Coca-Cola's contract be cut, and nothing has happened - the contract stands and Coke allows more horrors to occur. Students have held protests, candlelight vigils, wrote editorials in the school newspaper, handed out informational fliers, made presentations to the student body and administrators alike - all to no avail.

Administrators refuse to listen to the demands of the university community. Coca-Cola is one of the world's most powerful and profitable corporations. In 2002, Coca-Cola earned nearly $4 billion in profits, enough to pay its Chairman, Douglas Daft, $105 million in compensation. Yet, despite repeated pleas for justice, Coca-Cola has not found the time or resources to offer safety to the workers who bottle its products or prevent massive environmental devastation in the communities where it does business.

Death Squads in Colombia:

Colombia has long been the most dangerous country in the world to organize a union. Since 1986, roughly 4000 Colombian trade unionists have been murdered. In 2000, three of every five trade unionists killed in the world were Colombian. The vast majority of these murders have been carried out by right-wing paramilitary groups (aka death squads) on an ideological mission to destroy the labor movement. These groups often work in collaboration with the official US-supported Colombian military, and in some instances with managers at plants producing for multinational corporations.

In the case of Coca-Cola, according to numerous credible reports, the company and its business partners have turned a blind eye to, financially supported, and actively colluded with paramilitary groups in efforts to destroy workers' attempts to organize unions and bargain collectively. -Since 1989, eight union leaders from Coca-Cola plants have been murdered by paramilitary forces. Dozens of other workers have been intimidated, kidnapped, or tortured.

-In Carepa, members of the paramilitary murdered union leader Isidro Gil in broad daylight inside his factory's gates. They returned the next day and forced all of the plant's workers to resign from their union by signing documents on Coca-Cola letterhead.

-Another murder attempt occurred on August 22, 2003, when two men riding motorcycles fired shots at Juan Carlos Galvis, a worker leader at Coca-Cola's Barrancabermeja plant.

-There is substantial evidence that managers of several bottling plants have ordered assaults to occur and made regular payments to leaders of the paramilitary groups carrying out the attacks. These ongoing abuses have taken their toll on Coca-Cola workers' efforts to organize. Their union, SINALTRAINAL, has suffered a dramatic loss in membership, as worker leaders are intimidated or forced into hiding. SINALTRAINAL has appealed for solidarity and allies in the US labor and social justice movements have answered their call.

The United Steelworkers and the International Labor Rights Fund have filed a lawsuit against Coca-Cola on behalf of the union and victims' families in a US federal court. Other unions including the Teamsters and many community groups have launched public campaigns targeting Coke. If history is a guide, students could be the force that finally moves Coke to stop denying responsibility and take action to protect its workers' lives. For more information, please visit http://www.killercoke.org/
Campaign Expiration Date: July 19, 2009

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR-CANADA AND COLUMBIA:

KICK KILLER COKE OFF MCMASTER CAMPUS:

The following appeal for online solidarity is from the United Students Against Sweatshops. They are presently campaigning against the presence of the Coca-Cola Company on their McMaster Campus here in Hamilton Ontario Canada. Coca-Cola: riding roughshod over workers' rights across the world for over a century.

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Tell McMaster to Kick Killer Coke!
For the last 3 years, students at McMaster University have been demanding that their administration cut its exclusive beverage contract with Coca-Cola. Coke is guilty of labor and environmental abuses around the world, including complicity in the deaths of 10 SINALTRINAL members in Colombia alone. Despite all this, McMaster University administrators have re-opened contract negotiations with Coca-Cola, hoping to sign another contract! Please email the McMaster administration today to demand that they kick Killer Coke off campus! Tell me more

Go to THIS LINK to send the following letter to the McMaster University administration.

The letter:

Subject: No more coke on campus!

Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

It has come to our knowledge that you are re-negotiating the exclusive beverage contract with the Coca-Cola corporation. As you already know, Coca-Cola currently stands accused of numerous labour and environmental violations. This includes complicity with the murders of 10 unionized workers at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia, and environmental damage through out several provinces in India caused by Coke bottling plants.

We think it is reprehensible to do business with such an irresponsible company. Until Coca-Cola takes responsibility for it's actions abroad, we urge you to end contract negotiations with Coca-Cola and not resign the contract. We also wish to remind you that the current contract has been condemned publicly by the McMaster staff association, the McMaster faculty association, and the McMaster undergraduates as determined by MSU student referendum in October 2005. It is your responsibility to the McMaster community to uphold the resistance to the contract and stand up to corporate bully's Coca-Cola. End contract negotiations with Coca-Cola NOW!
Sincerely,

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:

COKE WORKERS ORGANIZE WORLDWIDE:

While it is hardly on the "cutting edge" of transnational capitalism the Coca-Cola corporation remains one of the largest business empires in the world, with a presence across the globe. Unions representing workers in the Coca-Cola empire have seen a need to coordinate their efforts globally as well. The following is an announcement from the IUF about the formation of the 'Global Coca-Cola Workers' Alliance'.

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Coca-Cola Workers launch Global Union Alliance

Share this article.

The IUF's 2nd Global Coca-Cola Unions Meeting took place on May 22 and 23, 2008 following five years of IUF Coca-Cola organizing around the world since the first meeting in 2003. This 2nd meeting was hosted and largely resourced by the German food workers union, the NGG and opened by NGG president Franz-Josef Möllenberg..

The Alliance launch

At this meeting representatives of over one hundred trade unions with members in Coca-Cola in 32 countries launched the Global Coca-Cola Workers Alliance. A Steering Group of representatives form all region would lead the Alliance between full Global Alliance meetings and an Alliance "Contact Group" would maintain the twice-yearly meetings with The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC) first negotiated and started in 2005.

The Alliance "pledge"

The Global Alliance of Coca-Cola Unions will be open to all IUF affiliates with actual or potential membership in the Coca-Cola system and commits Alliance member unions to support each other in case of conflicts and in efforts to grow membership and raise workers conditions throughout the Coca-Cola system.

The Challenge

Alliance members pointed to ongoing issues that needed strong and constant pressure from the IUF and its affiliates and allies. These included concerns at the growing use of precarious workers in place of permanent workers, divergence between the practice of some local managements and bottlers and the proclaimed corporate human rights policies of TCCC and the slow progress towards a global agreement with the Company which would commit the Coca-Cola system to rights and most importantly to access by Coca-Coal workers to those rights.

Exchanges with TCCC Director for Global Workplace Rights

At a "Question & Answer" session with TCCC Director for Global Workplace Rights, Ed Potter, most issues raised related to employment security and the widespread use of outsourcing and agency work in the system. There was agreement that this issue would feature centrally in the next direct meeting between TCCC and the IUF team of affiliates in Atlanta in October 2008.

Despite a robust Q&A session during the meeting the vast majority of IUF affiliates acknowledged the positive approach of TCCC in recent years towards wider engagement with trade unions and particularly the Company's willingness to engage meaningfully at the global level in stark contrast to many other US corporations and market competitors.

Moving forward!

At the close of the meeting representatives unanimously voiced a strong sense that the meeting had moved unions representing Coca-Cola workers forward and that the Alliance would provide a platform to build still stronger global union organization within the Coca-Cola system. IUF general secretary, Ron Oswald, commented, "This IUF Alliance is in the hands of our members and represents our best collective chance to exert pressure and positive influence on this complex global corporate system. Coke will continue to engage with us and we will see progress, but progress built both on our engagement with Coke and, probably principally, on our growing organized strength within the entire system - there will be challenging times ahead for Coke workers and this Alliance can represent our best chance to overcome and move forward."

AMERICAN LABOUR:
COKE OFF CAMPUS:
The Coca Cola company has, for generations, been associated with dictatorship and repression in what is called the Third World. This is nowhere as true as it is in the country of Columbia. For years now activists, amongst them the United Students Against Sweatshops, have been campaigning for institutions to break their ties with this criminal company. Here is the latest appeal, from SUNY in New York State. asking that institution to cease doing business with Coke. To read more and join this campaign go to THIS LINK.

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SUNY Albany: Don't Sign Another Ten Year Contract With Coke!

Despite the objections of students, faculty, and the entire campus community, SUNY Albany is still maintaining their connection to Coca-Cola. Even though the company has done nothing to address their role in the murder of Colombian union leaders, the university still intends to renew its contract with Coke. Its not too late to change their mind. Call and email President Philip today and demand that SUNY Albany cut all ties with Killer Coke!
President Philip: 518-956-8141
Hi, my name is __________ from __________. I am very disappointed by the University's announcement to recontract with Coca-Cola for another 10 years- there is still time to reconsider. I urge you not to resign the contract with the Coca-Cola Company. The human rights abuses committed by Coca-Cola throughout the world taints the reputation of our University. Please listen to the broad coalition of students, faculty, and community members who are urging you not to sign another contract with Coca-Cola. Thank you.

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s): President of UAS John Murphy SUNY Albany President George Philip
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: No more coke on campus!
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
I am very disappointed and outraged by the University's announcement to recontract with Coca-Cola for another 10 years. I urge you not to resign the contract with the Coca-Cola Company. The human rights abuses committed by Coca-Cola throughout the world taints the reputation of your university.




The murder of union members in Colombia, the monopolization of water supplies in India, Mexico, and El Salvador, and the operation of a Coca-Cola plant in Darfur (despite international sanctions) are only a few examples of human rights violations committed by Coca-Cola. Your predecessor, President Kermit Hall, set a precedent for ethical contracting by agreeing to sign on to the Designated Supplier Program. University at Albany should continue to make social justice issues a top priority when deciding who to contract with.




NYU, Rutgers, Hofstra and Bard College are just a few of the over 40 Colleges and Universities who have severed major contracts with the Coca-Cola Company. We are now asking you to listen to the over 1,200 students on your campus, not to mention members of the faculty, who are asking you to help restore UAlbany's image and reputation by clearing our complicity and association with such a disreputable corporation.As a member of the university community who takes this issue seriously, I hope that you do the same by NOT contracting with Coca-Cola in 2008.
Sincerely,
Once more, to send the above letter go to THIS LINK.

AMERICAN LABOUR:

NO MORE KILLER COKE AT SUNY ALBANY!:

In the classical era of the American Empire the brand of Coca-Cola stood along with GM and IBM as worldwide symbols of "what America stood for". The classical era has now passed, and new commodity fetishes have come to stand ahead of the rather antique Coke brand. Still, Coke wields significant power yet, enough to persuade the American government, for instance, to exempt it from trade sanctions against Sudan because it is an "essential foodstuff" (this is true, honest). Everywhere where Coke has spread devastation of local cultures, workers and environments has followed, and despite the fact that Coke has receded in the public imagination-and the financial standings- it is still a powerful transnational. But it is not without its opposition.

The following is an appeal from students at SUNY Albany demanding that their University sever ties with Coke because of the human rights record of said corporation. You can read more and join this campaign by going to THIS LINK.

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No More Killer Coke At SUNY Albany!


Students at SUNY Albany have demanded that the university cut all ties with Coca-Cola until they address their role in the murder of union leaders in Colombia. Call and email President Philip today to demand that SUNY Albany cut all ties with Killer Coke!
President George Philip: 518-956-8010
Hi my name is _____________ from ___________. I know that SUNY Albany's current contract with Coca-Cola expires at the end of this semester. I urge you not to renew the contract with the Coca-Cola Company in light of its terrible human, environmental, and workers' rights record. The abuses committed by Coca-Cola throughout the world taints the reputation of SUNY Albany. I hope you take this issue seriously by choosing not to renew the contract with Coca-Cola in 2008.

Send a letter to the following decision maker(s):

SUNY Albany President George Philip
Below is the sample letter:
Subject: Cut all ties with killer coke
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],
University at Albany's current contract with Coca-Cola expires at the end of this semester. I urge you not to renew the contract with the Coca-Cola Company. The human rights abuses committed by Coca-Cola throughout the world taints the reputation of our University.

The murder of union members in Colombia, the monopolization of water supplies in India, Mexico, and El Salvador, and the operation of a Coca-Cola plant in Darfur (despite international sanctions) are only a few examples of human rights violations committed by Coca-Cola. Former President Kermit Hall set a precedent for ethical contracting by agreeing to sign on to the Designated Supplier Program. University at Albany should continue to make social justice issues a top priority when deciding who to contract with.

NYU, Rutgers, Hofstra and Bard College are just a few of the over 40 Colleges and Universities who have severed major contracts with the Coca-Cola Company. We are now asking you to listen to the over 1,200 other students who've signed our petition, not to mention student and faculty support, who are asking you to help restore UAlbany's image and reputation by clearing our complicity and association with such a disreputable corporation. As a member of the progressive community who takes this issue seriously, I hope that you do the same by not renewing the contract with Coca-Cola in 2008.
Sincerely,

Once more: Go to the link above to send this letter-Molly

USA:
TELL LOYOLA CHICAGO TO KICK COKE OFF CAMPUS TODAY:
The following may be far from Molly's personal life. I've never been a cola drinker, and this aversion has gotten more profound in the last few decades. I doubt that I've drank more than three colas in the last 20 years. From memory i can retrieve some sort of puckering, drying effect in the mouth and a certain spoiling of the effect of the pure sugar taste by the "bitterish" and foul, to my mind, taste of the artificial coco beans. If this is the real taste all that I can say is how much I pity people in South America. Recently the wife discovered the undrunken cans of Pepsi in the back seat of the car. She threw them into my daily lunch from time to time and, from time to time, I promptly tossed them in the back seat to gather mold. Of course she denies all responsibility. Recently I've gotten away from my traditional caffeine fix. The result of advancing age I guess, as my mornings have become even more hassled than usual- at least in my mind. For years my idea of caffeine was two heaping tablespoons(NOT teaspoons) of instant coffee sweetened with three heaping tablespoons of sugar. None of this wimpy new class health food faddism for Molly- good totally processed white sugar for me. One teaspoon of real sugar equals about two of brown sugar, three of honey and about 10 of whatever bizarre fashionable sweetener may be available for those who desperately want to eat by fashion rather than taste.
Well, I got old, and the morning hit in the head became too much for me. I rarely drink coffee today except when on vacation. Don't even get me started on artificial sweeteners. If I wanted to drink something that tasted like iron filings I'd drink the real iron filings for Christ's sake. That crap tastes even worse than health food, if that is possible. At least so-called "health food" has the merit of generally having no taste. You trade the pleasure of life for a false (Molly emphasizes false,false,false,false!!!!!) promise of living a few more deprived years. But you also get the "pleasure" of feeling snotty and superior, and that may compensate for the loss of real physical pleasure. NOT in Molly's view of the world, but in the view of those who don't think about fads anyways.
Anyways, maybe this is close to Molly's personal life, as she is a very vile little pussycat who is always happy to do damage to things she hates. So read on about the latest efforts of Students Against Sweatshops and Union Voice to ban the Coca Cola Company from yet another campus. Molly supports this effort fully, and not just because she hates Coke. In this case Molly's personal taste coincides with an worldwide effort to limit the damage done by one of the most unethical corporations in the world. Consider that every Coke you drink may have been reduced in price by murder in Columbia.


"Students at Loyola Chicago have been urging their administration to end its relationship with Coke, and they are close to winning their campaign. Students no longer want their university to be connected to a company that has been linked to the murder of union leaders in Columbia, environmental devastation in India and union busting throughout its supply chain. The university will be making its decision regarding the future of their Coke contract on Monday, and your support is crucial. Call and email President Garanzini today and urge him to kick Coke off campus for good !


Loyola Campus is a Jesuit institution, and the Jesuits presume a certain commitment to social justice in their theology. to help make them live up to this join the campaign at http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/lccoke .

TELLING COKE TO CLEAN UP ITS ACT:

The Jobs With Justice organization who have been building coalitions between labour, community and religious organizations for 20 years have launched a campaign to pressure the Coca Cola Corp. to "clean up its act". Across the world Coke has become known as a major corporate polluter, as an employer who allows death squads in Columbia to murder pro-union workers and as the defendant in a $192 million dollar racial discrimination suit in the USA- they lost the case and had to pay. Now Coke's restructuring could eliminate thousands of jobs. To join the campaign to pressure Coke on these and other issues go to http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/cocacola.jwj .

Molly