Coca-Cola Workers go on Hunger Strike in Colombia

Starting at 6 A.M. on March 15, we, the workers, have initiated a Hunger
Strike in front of the Coca-Cola plants in Barrancabermeja, Bogotá,
Bucaramanga, Cali, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Medellín, and Valledupar. We're
doing this to denounce, nationally and internationally, that nine
Coca-Cola workers have been killed and 67 have been threatened with
death; and that we've been the victims of attempted murder, kidnappings,
forced displacement, and the burning of one of our union offices by the
paramilitaries. This has forced many workers to resign from the union.
We're also denouncing the unjust termination of employment contracts,
the use of illegal confinement to force workers to resign, the
subcontracting of more than 88 percent of the workers and the impact
this has had on living conditions, and the attempt by Coca-Cola to
eliminate rights in the negotiations of collective bargaining agreements
as has been occurring since March 1 of this year.

Coca-Cola has imported sugar which affects the production and economy of
Colombia. The company has taken advantage of the irrational use of water
- the vital resource for humanity, has refused to commit itself to not
using raw materials and products that are genetically modified, and has
refused to agree to social investment for the communities. It must also
be said that Coca-Cola is being denounced for abuses in other parts of
the world.

We're struggling for truth, justice, and reparations. That's why we
filed suit in Southern District Court in Florida, United States, against
the Coca-Cola bottlers. On March 31, 2003, Judge José E. Martínez, ruled
that the cases filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) for
violations of human rights could proceed for, among other reasons, the
symbiotic relationship that exists between the paramilitaries and the
Colombian state. But Coca-Cola has tried to criminalize various leaders
of SINALTRAINAL, falsely accusing them of insult, slander, conspiracy to
commit a crime, terrorism, rebellion, sabotage, property damage, and
theft. In this way, Coca-Cola stigmatizes the unionists in order to
justify their persecution and repression by the government through the
legal system. Various leaders of SINALTRAINAL have been unjustly
imprisoned, in spite of having shown that we're innocent and were
falsely charged.

Since September 9, 2003, Coca-Cola has kept the bottling plants in
Barrancabermeja, Cartagena, Cúcuta, Ibague, Montería, Neiva, Pasto,
Pereira, Popayán, Valledupar, and Villavicencio illegally closed.
Previously, they illegally closed the bottling plants in Bogotá,
Buenaventura, Girardot, and Mariquita. To complete this panorama of
injustice, on February 25, 2004, the Social Protection Ministry
authorized the dismissal of 91 workers. This was done without taking
into account that the company had already pressured more than 500
workers to resign, which is more than the 300 workers that the company
initially wanted to dismiss. Coca-Cola has not respected the law, nor
does it want to fulfill the legal resolution ("tutela") that ordered it
to relocate the workers in other positions. It is refusing to abide by
articles 18 and 91 of the collective bargaining agreements that require
it to not dismiss workers in the case of a reduction of activities,
closure of plants, or restructuring; but to train the workers and
relocate them in other positions. With all this, the company is trying
to destroy SINALTRAINAL, finish off the collective bargaining
agreements, eliminate direct and long-term employment contracts, reduce
costs, and increase its profits, by producing in just five megaplants
and supplying the market from distribution centers.

We, the workers affected by the closure of the production lines, are
continuing to resist. But, given the grave aggression that we're
continuing to suffer, there's no other recourse but to declare a hunger
strike and demand that Coca-Cola respect the law, and fulfill the legal
resolution passed by the judge in January 2004 to protect the right to
work and require Coca-Cola to relocate the workers in other positions.
We're also demanding the fulfillment of the collective bargaining
agreement by relocating the workers in other positions, an end to the
repression, and respect for our human rights.

LUIS JAVIER CORREA SUAREZ
President
SINALTRAINAL