United Voice News
The freedom to speak out
Imagine if the price of speaking out could be your life.
Melbourne’s Alen Praporski has worked at Coca Cola for almost two decades.
He has been to stop-work meetings, tribunal hearings and protests. He and fellow members have won countless union agreements. Not once has his life been threatened.
But for his comrades at Coca Cola in Colombia, it is a very different story.
They are paid around a dollar a day. Workers who speak up have been threatened and forced to renounce their union. Some have been tortured and murdered.
Duban Velez is the President of Sinaltrainal — Colombia’s union for Coca Cola workers.
During a trip to Australia he visited Alen and other members at Coke Moorabbin.
He explained why Colombia is the world’s most dangerous country for unionists.
Of the 76 unionists killed in 2008 for defending workers rights, 49 were Colombian, an International Confederation of Trade Unions report found.
“The total number of union-related deaths is around 4000 now; Duban confirmed the figure,” Alen said.
“I was shocked at some of his stories. It’s not out of the ordinary for delegates to wear bullet-proof vests in Colombia — when Duban goes to mass meetings he wears one.”
“I’m very disturbed. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live in a country where your life is at risk just for speaking up about working conditions.”
Alen is thankful for his right to stand with fellow members and fight for fair pay and conditions.
“I live a great life here and they’re being murdered over there — and we work for the same company. It makes me feel angry.”
Fellow members at Coke Moorabbin were also moved by Duban’s courage.
“He represents that part of humanity that will actually stand up and say ‘no’ even when it gets really hard,” Alen said.
“You know that saying, ‘evil wins when good men do nothing’, well he’s one of these good men trying to fight against injustice and pure profit.”
Support Colombian Coke workers’ fight for human rights. Go to www.killercoke.org
I was given good advice and the knowledge to pursue my matter further as it had taken its toll on me mentally physically and affected my family. I have continued to work in the security industry and now live in Queensland. Clubs and pubs in Queensland hire their own security personnel and I find that most of these people hiring have no intention of obeying work laws and often breach them, calling staff in and making them wait unpaid off-site until they are ready to start them and sending them home early when its quiet. The employees go along for the ride and are used to it they have mouths to feed and only complain amongst themselves. I personally have worked for or am still working for employers like this. Having to work up to 60 hours straight in a patrol car to cover another persons annual leave for a flat full time rate, and having the extra money earnt fed into my bank account over the following pays (normal practice). Being told by the employer he 'doesn't pay overtime' take it or leave it. Working casual for 10 hours a fortnight and being told not to work for another club on my 13 days off because my employer has a personal problem with the nightclub owner. It troubles me that there is no union presence in my town and plenty of bad EBAs such as the one hanging on the board at work and I have not been given one? It states we can be sacked for declining extra shifts offered to us? What if we work two jobs? I have almost completed Diploma of Justice Admin and re-joined you guys because I know you are there but a lot of others in Hervey Bay do not. How about some pamphlets at the Office of Fair Trading where we renew our licenses or maybe a representative to enter these pubs clubs and security business's to show them they can have rights too? Thank you LHMU