Destroying workplaces, Coca-Cola scores an own goal (pictures)

by BOYCOTT COCA-COLA - SIPTU Fri Sep 04, 2009 18:30 billymemery at gmail dot com

If coca cola striker's leafletting final, where are they meeting up? as I'd be interested in giving them a dig-out

by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Tue Sep 01, 2009 19:32

I wish the workers at Coca Cola well. They deserve the support of everyone. However, don't expect too much from Siptu. When the Colombian workers at coke called for a boycott, Siptu denounced it on the grounds that it would hurt Irish jobs. They also said that coke was a great place to work and the the Coca Cola HBC was not really coke at all, it was a different company.

The reality is that it was always one company. To the workers on strike, watch out lads. Your union will sell you down the river on this one and very quickly too, if you let them.

by Malachy Steenson - Workers Party Tue Sep 01, 2009 16:32

The President of the Workers Party has called for a boycott of Coca Cola products while the owners of the Coca Cola brand in Ireland persist in their plans to make 130 workers redundant and to outsource their jobs to lower paid workers with less favourable working conditions.

Michael Finnegan said that there needed to be a united front by workers, employed and unemployed, against outsourcing of employment by profit making companies and that Coca Cola was only the latest of many such companies to join the “race to the bottom”.

The Workers Party President pointed out that the owners of the Coca Cola franchise for Ireland, Coca Cola HBC which is based in Greece, had made profits of over €200 million in the first six months of 2009. This was despite the current recession and the company is financially sound and was able to spend €10 million last year in buying back some of its own shares from the market, a sure sign of it viability.

“There is no justification whatsoever for a profitable concern such as Coca Cola to sack workers and replace them with outsourced, low paid workers. This is becoming an all too prevalent response of companies to the economic downturn with profitable companies taking advantage of the situation to make unnecessary cuts and drive down wages to boost shareholder dividends rather than responding to a crisis. This is nothing less than sheer greed”, said Michael Finnegan.

“As President of the Workers Party I offer this party’s full support and solidarity to the workers at Coca Cola and I would urge all workers to support them by boycotting Coca Cola products until such time as the company recants on its unilateral breakage of longstanding collective agreements with the trade unions in the company and go back to the negotiating table in a meaningful way”, he said.

Issued 31st August 2009

by SIPTU Press Release Tue Sep 01, 2009 14:52

1 SEPTEMBER 2009

SIPTU member, Martin Daly, was taken to hospital this morning (Tuesday 1st September) after he was injured by a car driven through an official picket at the Coca Cola distribution centre on Ballycoolin Road, Finglas in Dublin.

Mr Daly was treated in the James Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown for injuries to his arm after the second such incident since pickets were placed at Coca Cola warehouse and distribution centres across the country last week.

At a meeting in Liberty Hall, Dublin, on Monday (31st August) it was decided by the SIPTU strike committee that pickets would remain in place at Coca Cola HBC Ireland depots in Dublin, Cork, Tuam, county Galway and Tipperary because of the company’s refusal to address the issues at the centre of the dispute including the company’s decision to outsource the jobs of 130 distribution and warehouse staff..

Coca Cola HBC has refused to attend the Labour Relations Commission to discuss alternatives to the sacking of 130 employees or the outsourcing of their jobs. The strike committee re-stated its willingness to attend at any third party forum including the Labour Relations Commission in an effort to bring this dispute to an amicable conclusion.

It was also decided that the dispute will be escalated by SIPTU engaging in an on-going campaign across the island of Ireland to seek the support of the general public for the workers of Coca Cola HBC in their fight for justice.

Coca Cola HBC revealed profits of €201 million in the six months to the end of June and has begun a process of restructuring in Ireland, Austria and Italy cutting almost 5,000 jobs since 2008. Coca Cola Hellenic Bottling Co. Ltd SA is a Greece based company in which the US Coca Cola company has a 23% stake.

The strike committee has said that any discussions to resolve the dispute must be without pre-conditions and that the company must follow agreed industrial relations procedures and allow all parties to air their views.

“This dispute will continue for as long as these workers are being denied the right to be employed by Coca Cola HBC. We are appalled at the manner in which a multi-billion euro global company is treating 130 Irish workers,” said Gerry McCormack the National Industrial Secretary of SIPTU.

“Coca Cola HBC has been threatening and intimidating these workers into accepting a redundancy package that they do not want. The company has been threatening workers with injunctions and to date two workers on the picket lines have been injured, one requiring hospitalisation, as a result of being hit by a vehicle crossing the peaceful picket lines,” he said.

“It is ironic that in fifty years of relationships between SIPTU and the former ITGWU there has never been the need to have any form of industrial action. This new Management’s attitude to industrial relations in the company and towards the institutions of the Irish state is a breach of all previous agreements which have served both parties very well for over fifty years,” Gerry McCormack said.

by ballymunner Tue Sep 01, 2009 14:21

Good work lads,real david and golliath struggle this,whos the guy with the bullhorn I recognise him,any news on injury.

by IMC Dalek Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:48

Cappagh road Dublin :
Coca Cola Striker hit by worker passing picket in car. Ambulance on the way.

by Image Maker Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:43

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Creating Money (by Firing Workers)

by Reel Thing - SIPTU Tue Sep 01, 2009 11:39

More pics