Open letter to Siptu re threats made by Siptu to Sinaltrainal

international | worker & community struggles and protests | news report

Wednesday December 08, 2004 13:29

by Lasc - Lasc

colombia at lasc dot ie

Siptu hreatens to run campaign against Colombian union

Below is the text of an open letter to Siptu re the threats made by Anne Speed and Jack McGinley to run a campaign against the Colombian union Sinaltrainal.

Open Letter to Siptu General President Re International Campaign Against Sinaltrainal.

Dear Mr O'Connor,

We are writing to you in relation to the recent visit by two Siptu delegates to Colombia. The two delegates Ann Speed and Jack McGinley met with Sinaltrainal representatives which included its president Javier Correa. This was not the first meeting between Siptu and Sinaltrainal. On two occasions Siptu has met with Sinaltrainal in Ireland, the most recent of these being the recent visit by Edgar Paez at Lasc's invitation. Sinaltrainal also met Siptu at a recent Euorpean works meeting of Coke workers in Rome, however, it is the meeting in Colombia which is of most concern to us here.

We are pleased that Siptu said they would take up the issues again with the company. However, we are unsure of what this might mean in the context of other promises that were made at the same meeting. According to the report that we have received from Sinaltrainal (copy attached) Ann Speed and Jack McGinley stated that if the boycott and disinvestment call wasn't lifted, Siptu, along with the IUF, the international body of food and drinks workers to which Siptu is affiliated, will launch an international campaign against Sinaltrainal. This is very worrying and we are seeking clarification on this matter. We are doing so publicly, as the effects of any international campaign against Sinaltrainal will be publicly noticed even if the campaign is run internally within the trade union movement.

Therefore we would ask you to clarify whether it is the official position of Siptu to launch or participate in such a campaign against Sinaltrainal, a union whose only crime is to defend its members lives. It is a very sad day, if Siptu's conclusion after having met with Sinaltrainal on four occasions is no public clarity on the substance of the allegations made by Sinaltrainal but rather that Siptu needs to run a campaign against a union whose membership and leadership have shown extreme courage and tenacity in the face of death and imprisonment.

Yours sincerely

Gearóid Ó Loingsigh
(PRO LASC)

Report on the meeting with SIPTU members Jack McGinley & Anne Speed

The meeting took place on Thursday November 4, 2004 and was attended by Javier Correa, Ermelina Mosquera, and Gonzalo Quijano on behalf of Sinaltrainal. The SIPTU representatives made their and their organisations's presentation. They mentioned that they had met in Dublin with the Colombian vice-president Fransisco Santos and expressed their demands that the repression and the violation of human rights in Colombia stop. After that SIPTU demanded of Sinaltrainal that the boycott end and threatened that otherwise they along with the IUF would begin a campaign against our union not only in Europe but throughout the world. Our response to this was that is was not our iniciative but a result of the conclusions of the three public hearings held in 2002 at which there were over 500 international organizations. We also explained that by giving up the campaign without a resolution to the proposed reparations from the multinational, Coca Cola, would allow the impunity to go unchecked in our land; that what is at issue are the lives of 9 of our fellow colleagues who were killed by dark forces and from which the company benefitted. It would also be tantamount to forgetting the kidnapping of workers and their children, the forced displacement suffered by 64 of our brothers and their families; the unjust imprisonment of our colleagues falsely accused by Coca Cola.

It was further clarified that in order to stop the boycott Coca Cola would have to deal with the petitions we presented to them around these cases on the 22nd of January 2003 in which we seek truth, justice and full reparations for the victims, the families and the social organisation that we represent. In the meeting we gave them copies of some of the evidence of what Coca Cola does to prevent the right of free association and also to overturn the statutes of our union to prevent its growth amongst other things.

At the end of the meeting they agreed to make further representations to Coca Cola and that they would again talk with government officials to see what they could do for our cause.

Luis Javier Correa Suárez
National President

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Comments (11 of 11)

Fair play Gearóid

by SIPTU member

Wed Dec 08, 2004 14:26

You do an excellent job on keeping us informed of the true nature of the rotten leadership.
They show the true nature of modern day solidarity within the Trade Union Movement i.e. partnership with neoliberal governments, multinationals, the bosses and death squads.

sound of silence

by amanda allaway - nipsa member

Wed Dec 08, 2004 23:30

Any response yet to your letter?

Whats the news on Francisco?

Well Done

by toneore

Thu Dec 09, 2004 10:29

toneore at eircom dot net

Jack and Ann are doing their jobs, protecting the rights of irish workers. They are to be congratulated. Tell the Colombian communists where to stick their boycott/

International Solidarity

by Dorian Gray

Thu Dec 09, 2004 11:32

The comment above this one about SIPTU doing their job is appalingly ignorant of the histroy of the working class and trade union movement.

International Labour is supposed to transcend the artificial construct that is the nation-state and show support and unconditional solidarity to those oppressed around the globe.

SIPTU are a disgrace and should be disbanded.

We share a common humanity and have to fight and oppose human rights abuses, oppression explotation and violence wherever we find it. To facilitate and encourage it in the name of making a quick buck is morallyu repugnant.

Maybe SIPTU were bought off by Coca-Cola here?

Agree with Toneore

by Spiff

Thu Dec 09, 2004 14:53

He's right! Why should the jobs of the Einsatz have been in jeopardy just becuase they were shoving people into ovens.

In reality, the very notion that Coca Cola would turn around and tell consumers that if they chose not to drink Coke, they were hurting Irish workers, says a lot about their inability to come up with any valid riposte to the charges against them.

Sensible?

by gypsey davey

Thu Dec 09, 2004 16:06

Well if Jack and Ann were sensible trade Unionists they would line up with people with common interest as their own say for example hmmm .... maybe other workers

common interests

by common worker

Fri Dec 10, 2004 12:36

Jack and Ann have common interests, they just don't see them as being with other workers that is all.

Response from Siptu

Fri Dec 10, 2004 12:39

In relation to whether we have received a response to the letter; no we have not. We await a reply from Siptu.

The silence is deafening. Either it is not official policy or it is. It shouldn't be too hard to come up with a reply.

AP/RN on Colombia

by Scáth Shéamais

Sun Dec 12, 2004 21:09

There was an article in this week's An Phoblacht/Republican News about "SIPTU rep's solidarity visit to Colombia" (it can be read here: http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/7775 )

It featured an interview with Ann Speed. Maybe someone from LASC or anyone else involved in the boycott campaign can write in a letter about the issues being addressed (or not being addressed, as the case may be).

Exactly

by Peter Murray

Wed May 25, 2005 20:51

The interview with Anne Speed in An Phoblacht (above) indicates the total nonsense represented by O'Loinsigh's 'open letter’.

O'Loinsigh's sectarianism is indicated by the fact that his first instinct was attack, just after SIPTU had brought Sinaltainal into discussion with European Coca Cola workers and had raised the issue with other Coca Cola workers and with Coca Cola management.

Here was a golden opportunity for O'Loinsigh to work with SIPTU, since they had made efforts to work with Sinaltrainal, despite opposition to the boycott. Here was an opportunity to put the past behind and to try and resolve this difficulty. Publicise it sure, if the response is not satisfactory.

But no, O'Loinsigh's first and only instinct is to attack publicly and to reinforce and deepen the suspicion and paranoia. He does not even pick up the telephone to communicate his concern, to ask if perhaps this is a misunderstanding, because it just doesn't make sense. The facts contradict it.

O’Loinsigh has brought his personal political opinions and history into solidarity work. He is prepared to sacrifice and to sabotage the possibility of joint work (even on the basis of disagreements) for the sake of scoring a cheap political hit whose content has no basis. The proof: the European Works Council Coca Cola meeting that SIPTU ensured Sinaltrainal was invited to, after meeting them in Colombia. That is unforgivable.

As for a reply from SIPTU, did they bother to send one? I’m sure that Gearoid would have brought it to our attention and would have put it on the table as quickly as he possibly could. (Yeah, right.)

siptu not working

by s.i.p.t.u. member - local authority

Sun May 29, 2005 17:32

i am a member of siptu ,it is with great sadness thatm i have to say ,that our secretary has decided to put me on a black list ,reason being that i desagreed with his way of handling my problem,that i had with my bosses,he has actualy made things worse, so i went to my bosses and explained my side now things are a little betterat , so union sec has told other members to black list me which most of them has refused his request, tell me why should anyone pay to be bullied, i hope u will deal with him and any others like him that are out there.if not i will.

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Open letter to Siptu re threats made by Siptu to Sinaltrainal

Comments (11 of 11)