New Violations Against SINALTRAINAL Unionists in Colombia

On March 2, 2004, at 8 am, four heavily armed men forcefully entered the SINALTRAINAL headquarters in Barranquilla. They restrained the manager of our cooperative, Erasmo Castro, who was working on a computer; overturned everything in their path; asked insistently for the DVD, and took approximately 4 million pesos (about US$1,500) and the cassette from the security camera that monitors the entrance to the union office. Then they used the union telephone, and a few moments later other men arrived on motorcycles and they all left.

On February 28, Coca-Cola official Fredy Mancilla approached worker and SINALTRAINAL unionist Ricardo Cordoba. He called Ricardo illiterate and said he should not be working at the company. He spoke out against the union and said he hoped they put lead in all the unionists (alluding to the union leaders).

During the week of February 23, the Cundinamarca branch of the Ministry of Social Protection issued a resolution authorizing the requests of Coca Cola bottlers Colombia S.A., Embosan S.A. and Emboroman S.A. to close 11 production lines. Meanwhile, the company continues to pressure workers to "voluntarily" resign.

Source: Sinaltrainal, March 2, 2004