>currently being heard in court that could win an enhanced
>severance package. The enhanced package would mean about
>twice as much money for a terminated employee.
>
>For many Black workers, the shock of losing their jobs was
>compounded by being forced to accept fewer benefits than
>their fellow white employees if they wanted to maintain
>their legal rights. Only Black employees would receive the
>reduced benefits--another example of the discriminatory
>policies already in place at Coke.
>
>A 15-year employee and former human resources manager,
>Larry Jones, organized the rally. Jones is not a plaintiff
>to the lawsuit. But he had been approached by many workers
>seeking his advice on what to do about signing the waiver.
>Having been assured that he was not on the layoff list,
>Jones felt confident in his position and approached acting
>Coke president Jack Stahl with his concerns that the waiver
>was discriminatory in its application.
>
>Shortly after the meeting with Stahl, Jones was
>unceremoniously ousted. Coke claims that his layoff was not
>in retaliation for his public opposition to the waiver. It
>is known throughout his department, though, that Jones had
>been scheduled to attend upcoming international corporate
>meetings in Brazil and already had his airline tickets when
>he was unexpectedly booted out in mid-February.
>
>On March 3, less than 24 hours before the much-publicized
>rally, Coke did an about-face and removed the waiver from
>the severance package, notifying all employees of that
>fact.
>
>Nevertheless, the next afternoon, St. Phillip A.M.E.
>Church in Decatur was packed with angry workers who
>enthusiastically applauded Jones's call for sweeping
>changes in Coca-Cola's employment practices.
>
>"It's a fundamental problem that the Coca-Cola company
>discriminates against Blacks in hiring, promotions, pay and
>performance evaluations," Jones stated. Plans for a
>nationwide boycott "are being discussed" as a way to
>pressure Coke to change its ways, he said. Some in the
>audience called Coke's policies "ethnic cleansing."
>
>WORKERS SEEK CLASS-ACTION SUIT
>
>The original charges of pervasive and systemic
>discrimination were lodged almost a year ago when four
>current and former workers at Coke filed a federal lawsuit.
>Joined later by four more employees, the plaintiffs are
>seeking class-action status, which would increase those
>suing the company to more than 2,000 workers.
>
>For months, the struggle had been focused in the courts as
>lawyers for the employees fiercely took on the legal
>department of the world's largest soft-drink company.
>Attorney Cyrus Mehri, who had successfully exposed racial
>discrimination at Texaco, fought to get access to personnel
>records that would prove the allegations. Despite orders
>from the judge to turn over all relevant documents, Coke
>delayed complying for months.
>
>In the meantime, Coke suffered another major public
>relations blow when its products were removed from
>distribution in France and Belgium during the summer of
>1999 because of contamination that sickened dozens of
>consumers.
>
>Falling stock prices, unheard of in Coke's corporate
>history, caused the ouster of former CEO M. Douglas
>Ivester. Coke's board of directors, which includes
>billionaire capitalist Warren Buffett, permitted him to
>tender his resignation, to take effect several months
>later.
>
>In his remaining time as head of the business, Ivester
>demoted Carl Ware, the highest-ranking Black officer, an
>act which illustrated simultaneously the charges made by
>the eight plaintiffs and the arrogant insensitivity of
>Coke's top management. Ware's resignation created headlines
>in the Atlanta media.
>
>The new team of corporate managers attempted to repair
>this public relations disaster by enticing Ware to
>reconsider his resignation, offering him a new position as
>executive vice president of the Global Public Affairs
>Administration, which he accepted.
>
>Despite his title, Ware had no part in business decisions.
>Nevertheless, he had been a prominent spokesperson for Coke
>in both domestic and foreign politics.
>
>In the 1970s when Coca-Cola was under scrutiny for its
>business dealings with apartheid South Africa, Carl Ware
>was the person brought in to meet with divestment
>activists. It was Ware's job to undermine a boycott of Coke
>by the anti-apartheid movement. To burnish its image as a
>good corporate citizen, Coke made financial contributions
>to a variety of community organizations and institutions,
>from the MLK Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change to
>the National Black Arts Festival and the Atlanta University
>Center.
>
>This carefully fostered reputation as a "progressive"
>company has taken a beating with the release of documents
>as ordered by the courts.
>
>INTERNAL DOCUMENTS SHOW SYSTEMATIC DISCRIMINATION
>
>In a 1995 internal report to then-president Ivester, Carl
>Ware wrote that African American employees "had been
>humiliated, ignored, overlooked or unacknowledged" in their
>positions. Again in 1998, Ivester, now chair of Coke, was
>sent a memo by Ingrid Saunders Jones, vice president of
>Corporate External Affairs, expressing her continued
>frustration at being ignored by the upper echelons of
>management. She writes of "invisible moments driven by
>chauvinism and power, sometimes by pure and absolute
>disrespect."
>
>The layoffs have included all the current employees who
>filed the suit in April 1999. The only exception is
>security guard Gregory Clark. The lawyers for the suit have
>filed a motion to learn what percentage of the eliminated
>jobs were held by African Americans. From the information
>already received from Coke personnel records, they have
>been able to establish that salaries for equivalent jobs
>were uniformly higher for white managers than Blacks and
>that entire divisions of upper management ranged from being
>100 percent white to 98 percent white.
>
>Momentum is building in favor of the plaintiffs. Letters
>to the editor in the Atlanta Constitution have denounced
>the $117-million deal Doug Ivester got to leave his job
>when 2,500 other employees are being unceremoniously laid
>off to improve profitability. Jack Stahl, who will become
>company president, and Doug Daft, who will be named chair
>at the April 19 board meeting, are under growing pressure
>to find a solution that will take the spotlight off Coke's
>record of racist practices.
>
>However, African American workers at Coca-Cola are more
>determined than ever to force real changes in the company's
>employment practices. The heroic plaintiffs in this case
>have vowed not to settle for any cosmetic measures but to
>press on until real opportunity is afforded Black
>employees.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <029901bf8f0a$a94f61a0$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] International Women's Day protests demand justice for all
>Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 00:42:22 -0500
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Mar. 23, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>FROM MEXICO TO PALESTINE TO NEPAL:
>
>INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY PROTESTS
>DEMAND EQUALITY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
>
>By Kathy Durkin
>
>March 8--International Women's Day--is a day that pays
>special tribute to women fighting back against exploitation
>and oppression worldwide. This year in over 60 countries--
>from Mexico to Palestine to Nepal--women did just that.
>They marched, chanted and rallied for their rights and
>those of their sisters as they commemorated International
>Women's Day.
>
>Thousands of women in CHIAPAS, MEXICO, seized Xera radio
>station and demanded more rights for Indigenous people and
>all women. In an IWD demonstration the same day, 10,000
>Zapatista supporters marched in SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS
>to demand an end to the Mexican Army's militarization of
>the region. Many who participated in the day's actions had
>to cross through army cordons.
>
>The struggle against the U.S.-backed Israeli presence in
>PALESTINE was the focus of a rally staged by Palestinian
>women. The demonstration in Gaza City, organized by the
>Palestinian Women's Union, called for a Palestinian state
>and for their rights as women.
>
>Throughout PAKISTAN, women march ed in many cities. They
>demanded an end to all discriminatory laws against women, a
>ban on sexual harassment of women workers and a stop to
>violence against women.
>
>In KATMANDU, NEPAL, thousands of women from all walks of
>life marched to demand social and economic rights. Women
>tied up traffic as they militantly marched in the streets
>calling attention to the conditions they face. Participants
>in the demonstration told of discrimination, superstition,
>violence, outmoded customs and poverty. They called for a
>fight back. Police attacked groups of leftist forces and
>arrested 80 women, but released them soon after.
>
>Other activities took place all over Asia--BANGLADESH,
>THAILAND, INDIA, JAPAN and elsewhere--that promoted women's
>economic, social and political rights.
>
>To mark International Women's Day, the All-CHINA Women's
>Federation and Ministry of Justice instituted a weeklong
>campaign to promote public awareness of the rights of
>women.
>
>Demonstrations also took place ALL OVER EUROPE on March 8
>calling for women's equality in all spheres of life.
>
>The imperialist grip of the World Trade Organization and
>transnational corporations came under attack for
>contributing to the feminization of poverty.
>
>Three thousand women armed with banners marched IN GENEVA,
>SWITZERLAND, demanding an end to poverty and violence
>against women, and calling for equality. The demonstrators,
>who included Kurdish representatives, marched to the United
>Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and to the offices
>of the World Trade Organization. There they displayed a
>huge model of a vampire, to symbolize the insatiable drive
>for profits by the corporations. Their signs attacked the
>effects of the globalization of capital on women and
>criticized the multinational corporations.
>
>In a number of demonstrations held on International
>Women's Day, the worldwide impoverishment of women was a
>major issue. And the globalization of capitalism deepens
>the crisis.
>
>Women make up 70 percent of the 1.3 billion people who
>live in poverty; 900 million women earn under $1 a day.
>Millions of women work in capitalism's sweatshops all over
>the globe under terrible working conditions: long hours, no
>rights, and subjected to sexual harassment and other forms
>of abuse.
>
>AUSTRIAN women marched against the new coalition
>government, which now includes the far-right "Freedom
>Party." They said the conservative government is rolling
>back women's rights and forcing women out of the workplace
>and into the home. Women's groups went to the government's
>headquarters to oppose the anti-woman positions of the
>government's leadership and called for rights for working
>mothers and for childcare, among other demands.
>
>Thousands of PERUVIAN women marched in LIMA. They carried
>a giant empty basket to symbolize the lack of basic
>necessities of life faced by millions of their sisters and
>brothers. They demanded jobs for women and protested the
>government's harsh economic policies.
>
>In recognition of International Women's Day, the
>International Commission of the Revolutionary Armed Forces
>of COLOMBIA--People's Army (FARC-EP) issued a statement
>recognizing the contribution women make to society.
>
>It says, in part, "On March 8, the world commemorates
>International Women's Day. It is a date to remember and to
>recognize the formidable contribution made by women in the
>uplifting of humanity... [We] send militant greetings to
>all the women of the world, especially those in Latin
>America and the Caribbean who are struggling amid so much
>privation to win better conditions of life for themselves,
>their children, and their companions--in the home, at the
>workplace, or in the search for the right to work."
>
>Workers World Party events held around the country paid
>tribute to the women of Cuba, Iraq, Yugoslavia, the
>Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and to all women
>struggling around the world--including here in the U.S.
>
>All these International Women's Day actions worldwide bode
>well for the coming year of struggle by women against the
>oppressive conditions of their lives and for solidarity
>with their sisters who are fighting back against poverty,
>exploitation and war.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>
>Message-ID: <029a01bf8f0a$a95a1000$[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>From: "WW" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [WW] Women draw inspiration from Cuba to Chiapas
>Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2000 00:42:48 -0500
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="iso-8859-1"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
>
>-------------------------
>Via Workers World News Service
>Reprinted from the Mar. 23, 2000
>issue of Workers World newspaper
>-------------------------
>
>SAN FRANCISCO
>
>WOMEN DRAW INSPIRATION FROM CUBA AND CHIAPAS
>
>By Brenda Sandburg
>San Francisco
>
>"The U.S. government has amnesia when it comes to
>celebrating the struggles of workers, particularly the
>historic battles that began in the United States,"
>Alicia Jrapko said as she opened a celebration of
>International Women's Day held here on March 11.
>
>But the standing-room-only crowd of 200 people that filled
>the Women's Building was deeply conscious of struggles
>women have waged around the world since IWD was created in
>1910.
>
>The dynamic meeting paid tribute to women throughout the
>world, with a focus on the women of Cuba and Chiapas.
>Jrapko, a member of the Bay Area U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment,
>also saluted women in prison.
>
>Johana Tablada, second secretary of the Cuban Interests
>Section in Washington, D.C., was the featured speaker of
>the meeting. She has seen the fruits of women's battle for
>equality. Citing the tremendous advances women have made in
>Cuba since the 1959 Revolution, she noted that 25 percent
>of the members of the Cuban parliament are women and 51
>percent of the country's doctors are women. Young women
>also have eclipsed men in attendance at universities.
>
>Today, the biggest challenge Cuban women face is to hold
>onto the gains they have made, Tablada explained. She noted
>that since the Soviet Union collapsed, Cuba has lost 83
>percent of its worldwide trade. Women have been affected
>the most.
>
>Tablada said the early 1990s were the most difficult.
>Women who were directors of hospitals and scientific
>centers or presidents of universities had to leave their
>positions to take care of their families during a time of
>tremendous shortages. Now, "We are encouraging women to
>take these positions back."
>
>Tablada also thanked the audience for its solidarity in
>the struggle to return young Eli n Gonz lez to his family
>in Cuba.
>
>Native activist Cora Lee Simmons gave a moving talk about
>visiting Cuba in February. To resounding applause, she
>compared the struggle of the Cuban people with that of
>Native nations in this country. The U.S. government "robbed
>us of our babies and took them because we didn't have
>telephones in our homes or running water," Simmons said.
>
>Laura Harlan, another delegate on the Peace for Cuba trip,
>said she also was changed by the experience. "I have been
>able to do things I didn't think I was capable of and given
>myself a voice," she told the audience. She added that she
>has shared her newfound knowledge with her mother, who just
>finished reading a book on Che Guevara.
>
>"It's good to see that same fighter awakening in my mom,"
>Harlan said.
>
>`WOMEN PUSH THE SOLDIERS BACK'
>
>The meeting also honored the women of Chiapas. Nancy
>Charaga of the Bay Area Zapatista Coalition testified about
>the role women have played since the Jan. 1, 1994, uprising
>of the Zapatistas. "Women stand in the entrances to
>villages and push the soldiers back," Charaga said.
>
>Mexican student Irena Arellano spoke about the recent
>battle Mexican students waged to maintain free education in
>their country. Arellano was a member of the council of
>students that led a nine-month strike at the National
>Autonomous University of Mexico.
>
>Arellano said the Mexican government signed an agreement
>with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to
>begin privatizing education last year. "The director of the
>university said my generation, `generation X,' wouldn't
>care what's going on, that we wouldn't have a problem, it
>would just affect future generations," Arellano said. "But
>we did care."
>
>The meeting featured music by Rosa Martha Z rate. A
>special highlight of the event was a tribute to six
>longtime activists in the struggle: Jackie Kiernan, Workers
>World Party; Hilda Roberts and Juanita Rieloff, Bay Area
>U.S.-Cuba Friendshipment Caravan; Joan Intrator,
>International Peace for Cuba Appeal's Medical Journals
>Project; Zvetana Zaneva, International Action Center; and
>Frances Steadman, Marin Interfaith Task Force.
>
>"These courageous fighters for justice are our role models
>and an example to all of us," Jrapko concluded.
>
> - END -
>
>(Copyleft Workers World Service. Everyone is permitted to
>copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
>changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
>Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
>[EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message
>to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org)
>
>
>
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