Help Needed to Stop The Killing of Union Leaders at Coca Cola Plants in Colombia.

We need your help to stop a gruesome cycle of murders, kidnappings and torture of SINALTRAINAL (National Union of Food Industry Workers) union leaders and organizers involved in daily life-and-death struggles at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia.

In July 2001, the United Steelworkers of America and the International Labor Rights Fund (www.laborrights.org) filed a lawsuit on behalf of SINALTRAINAL, several of its members and the estate of Isidro Gil, one of its murdered officers. The lawsuit and campaign aim to force Coca-Cola to prevent further bloodshed and to provide safe working conditions.

Coca-Cola bottlers “contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilize extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders,” the lawsuit states. It also notes that Colombian troops connected with the paramilitaries have trained at the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Ga., where trainees were encouraged to torture and murder those who do “union organizing and recruiting;” pass out “propaganda in favor of workers;” and “sympathize with demonstrators or strikes.” This was made public when the Pentagon was forced to reveal the contents of training manuals used at the school. (For more information, see www.soaw.org, the website of SOA Watch.) The year that the lawsuit was filed, The Coca-Cola Co. made $4 billion in profits and paid its CEO, Douglas Daft, more than $105 million. Coca-Cola continues to rake in billions each year, yet the frightening conditions at the Coke plants remain unchanged. Labor unions and human rights advocates in the United States can stop these atrocities at Coca-Cola’s bottling plants.

Please read the enclosed exposés. The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke will move the fight to the doorsteps and into the boardrooms of Coca-Cola and its key financial ally, SunTrust Banks. As long as SunTrust, “the bank of Killer Coke,” maintains its intimate ties to Coke through board interlocks, large stock holdings and credit relationships, SunTrust, along with Coca-Cola, will be a principal target of this campaign. We ask you to take part in this most important struggle. Any contribution you can make to the campaign will serve as a critical building block and act of solidarity to help end one of the ugliest chapters in labor history. Please make a financial contribution, participate in protest activities and mail in the coupon below. By working together, we can protect our sisters and brothers and restrain corporations like SunTrust and Coke that behave so immorally and irresponsibly. Any support you give will be greatly appreciated and acknowledged.

In solidarity,

Javier Correa, President, Sinaltrainal
William Mendoza, President of SINALTRAINAL, Barrancabermeja.
Ray Rogers, Director, Campaign to Stop Killer Coke

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Campaign to Stop Killer Coke
P.O. Box 1004, Cooper Station
New York, NY 10276-1004

You can email us at: stopkillercoke@aol.com

You can call us at the following number:
(718) 852-2808
(718) 852-2412 (Fax)

Ray Rogers, Campaign Director

Walmart To Rip Off Girl Scout Cookie Design

The Girl Scouts in Canada and the U.S.A. make most of their money to run their organizations by selling Girl Scout Cookies door to door.  But Walmart doesn't care about that.  A few weeks ago, in Chicago,  they began testing a cheaper version of the Girl Scout cookies that will sell all year round, poised to snatch cookie sales right out of the hands of the Girl Scouts.

One woman who spent years as "Cookie Mom" for her daughter's troop says Wal-Mart is copying two of the most popular Girl Scout cookies -- Thin Mints (pictured) and Tagalongs -- to sell under its own private label.

The furore which has arisen as a result has shown middle class families the real Walmart and they don't like it much.  The woman, C.V. Harquail complained on her blog that "Walmart can sell all the hunting equipment, cheap plastic gizmos and clothes made in sweatshops that it wants to sell, but why must they encroach upon the market of a non-profit? Why do they have to go after the Girl Scouts?"

The Girl Scouts have just learned the same facts as the garment workers and others whose jobs are jeapardized by companies that make cheap foreign knock-offs of their products. Walmart doesn't care about anything but profits.

Wal-Mart Attempts To Censor UFCW Website

and sending a protest message to Wal-Mart. It only takes a few minutes and sends the message Canadians won't be intimidated by Wal-Mart. You can go to the website yourself and ask whether anyone would reasonably be confused that this was a Wal-Mart website.

Big Box Mart - The Video