Siptu Meeting and Coca Cola

cork | miscellaneous | news report Friday November 21, 2003 11:54 by Gearoid O Loingsigh - LASC

contacts between the trade union movement and Colombian Coke workers

There have been many opportunities for Siptu to meet with Colombian Trade Unionists. They were not interested.

I think it is time to clarify a few points that have arisen on recent debates on Indymedia in relation to the contacts with the unions in Ireland.

LASC (Latin America Solidarity Centre) was informally informed by a high ranking official that under no circumstances would they facilitate a meeting with rank and file workers on the issue of the boycott etc.

However, in June Lasc brought over a member of the Sinaltrainal union from Colombia. We held a public meeting in the Teacher's Club which was chaired by Des Bonass of the Dublin Trades Council. The meeting was advertised well and the Global Solidarity (the ICTU solidarity ctte) were well informed in advance of the meeting and the topic etc. No contact was forthcoming from Siptu. The meeting was reported in An Phoblacht and presumably Anne Speed would have seen it. Still no contact from her or anyone else in Siptu.

In July, Global Solidarity invited the President of the Mine Workers Union in Colombia to attend the ICTU biennial conference. He spoke at a plenary session and also at a fringe meeting chaired by the President of the Northern Ireland Ctte of ICTU and also by Global Solidarity. Although he spoke about the mining situation,he gave over a great deal of his time to deal with the issue of the boycott. He was warmly received. Again, nobody from Siptu contacted him or Lasc, though they did actually pay for the train tickets to Tralee.

Again we invited Luis Eduardo Garcia from Sinaltrainal to visit here recently. At our request Global Solidarity facilitated a meeting between us and Siptu. The meeting was attended by myself, a representative from the campaign in Britain and also three students from UCD and Luis Eduardo.

On Siptu's side it was attended by Anne Speed and three shop stewards from the Naas Bottling plant. Shop stewards from no other plant were invited by Siptu (which is strange).

At the meeting Siptu tried to say that they were opposed to the tactic of boycott due to its affects on Irish jobs. It was pointed out to them that the Siptu statement (available on their site) actually exonerated Coca Cola of any wrong doing in Colombia and that the debate was not about tactics with them but about the substance.

It should be pointed out that in the US the Teamsters Union disagrees with the boycott tactic but does actually say that Coke has a case to answer.

LASC was reticent about contacts through official Siptu channels as they had signed up ot the IUF statement earlier inthe year which said that the allegations were "sweeping and unsubstantiated".

As consumers and as activists we are not bound by the views of those who do not wish to engage in solidarity and who accuse unions that have paid with their lives of being liars. However, we must point out that the real threat to jobs comes from Coke itself which this year alone has laid off 1,000 workers in its home city of Atlanta.

By saying that the boycott will be responsible for future jobs losses which have been on the cards for some time, Siptu is supporting in advance any sackings and weakening the workers case. The Naas plant has annual revenue of 400 to 500 million dollars, they could afford a drop in sales.

We answered teh call of trade unionists in colombia, including the congress of trade unionists (CUT). If workers at coke in Ireland want to protect their jobs then stand with their colleagues in Colombia.

We have organised various meetings with the trade union movement and some as is the case of trade unionists in the Royal Victoria Hospital Sinaltrainal has received support from.

Maybe Mandate should seek the approval of the shop stewards in JP Carrolls,before insisting on the smoking ban going ahead and Sinaltrainal should seek the approval of Siptu before its makes allegations that Siptu reject. We are not bound by those who do understand solidarity. the Dunnes Stores Strikers in the 1980s did not seek the approval of those who thought they might loose out on the ban on apartheid products.