[Ip-health] activists disrupt GBC ceremony; demand Coke treat its workers

[Asia Russell]

ACT UP New York *  Health GAP
For Immediate Release: Wednesday June 12, 2002
Contact: John Riley, (917) 653-7267 --onsite--
      Asia Russell, (215) 474-9329

Breaking News
AIDS ACTIVISTS CRASH GLOBAL BUSINESS COUNCIL GALA
DEMAND COCA-COLA, OTHER MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS
PAY FOR TREATMENT FOR WORKERS WITH AIDS

(New York, New York) During multiple disruptions of the awards ceremony
Wednesday June 12 of the Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS, members of th=
e
AIDS activist group ACT UP and Health GAP demanded multinational
corporations like Coca-Cola pay for medicines for employees in developing
countries facing death from untreated HIV disease.

While activists inside the gala interrupted the ceremony, confronting
members of Anglo-American, Coca-Cola, and other companies with massive
workforces in Africa, other ACT UP members chanted from bullhorns while
floating alongside the gala at Pier 60 in a boat =B3Coke lies, workers die,
AIDS treatment now!=B2 The ceremony, sponsored by the Global Business Council
on HIV/AIDS, was emceed by Dan Rather and attended by Kofi Annan, Bill
Clinton, Dick Holbrooke, and other luminaries.

=B3Crumbs from Coca-Cola and other corporations for workers dying with AIDS
are nothing to celebrate,=B2 said Sharonann Lynch of Health GAP and ACT UP Ne=
w
York. =B3Companies are patting themselves on the back, but they have skirted
their most fundamental obligation=8Bpaying for treatment for HIV positive
workers in developing countries.=B2

At Coca-Cola=B9s annual shareholder=B9s meeting in April 2002 activists launche=
d
a campaign singling out the beverage company, the largest sole private
sector employer in Africa, for their refusal to pay for HIV treatment for
HIV positive workers in their African bottling and distribution facilities.
Coca-Cola, despite its massive African employee base, has offered little
more than billboard and truck space to African country governments for
anti-AIDS advertisements and safe sex materials. Coca-Cola has only agreed
to permit treatment access for a handful of HIV positive employees they
consider their =B3direct employees.=B2

=B3Multinational companies have no laurels to rest on,=B2 said ACT UP New York
co-founder and HIV-positive activist Eric Sawyer. =B3Coca-Cola, Anglo-America=
n
and other members of the Global Business Council have reneged on their
promises to provide antiretroviral treatment and care to their workers and
their families. Medical apartheid is nothing to be proud of.=B2

=B3How can Coke make so much profit from the labor of HIV positive employees
but refuse to pay for AIDS medicines?=B2 asked Amanda Lugg of ACT UP New York=
.
=B3Africa is Coke=B9s largest growth market. Coke=B9s inaction is unconsionable.=B2

As attendees dined inside, protesters knocked on the windows, held up signs=
,
and chanted names of companies that had shirked their responsibility in
paying for workplace treatment. =B3Last year Coca-Cola and Anglo-American
grabbed headlines with announcements of workplace initiatives. In the past
twelve months, Anglo-American has reneged twice on its treatment policy,
while Coca-Cola has failed to treat its workers and their families,=B2 said
protester Eustacia Smith of ACT UP New York. =B3Meanwhile there are 8,000
deaths and 14,000 new HIV infections every day.=B2

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Asia Russell
ACT UP Philadelphia
Health GAP (Global Access Project)
+1 215 474-9329 tel
+1 267 475-2645 mobile
asia@critpath.org