[Ip-health] ENDORSE NOW: Global actions against Coke demanding AIDS drugs for
African workers 10/17
Paul Davis
pdavis@critpath.org
Wed, 09 Oct 2002 13:46:25 -0400
Oct 9 2002
included in this message:
-endorsement form
-update: activists have coke on the run, but he company offer is no good
-call to action (from last month)
-action report from Atlanta (from last night)
-list of endorsers so far (from today)
In Barcelona, major AIDS groups from across the globe issued a call for
actions on October 17th demanding AIDS drugs for Coca Cola's 100,000
employees and bottling plant workers in Africa. The numbers of countries an=
d
cities planning actions is growing rapidly, including nearly 20 countries.
In the US, there will be major actions in Philadelphia, NY, Atlanta,
Seattle, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, DC and Boston - with more groups coming
online quickly. The company is running scared, and has already tried to
buy-off the global network of activists. Please help keep the pressure on
Coke -- we are about to win a historic victory!
PLEASE ENDORSE: please complete the form at the end of this e-mail and send
to info@healthgap.org
TO PARTICIPATE: e-mail salynch@healthgap.org for local actions or to get
help planning one.
----------
DEBUNKING COKE's non-plan:
debunk coke's announcement.
Tuesday October 8, 2002
LATEST update on Coke and access to medicines campaign:
Victory within reach; pressure still on for global day of protest
Read on=8A
After many months of campaigning, Coke is starting to give in to
activist pressure.
AIDS activists have been demanding that the company pay for HIV drugs
and treatment for workers living with HIV among the 100,000 people
who bottle and distribute Coke-not just Coke's so-called "direct
workforce" of 1500 people.
On September 29, 2002, Coke announced they planned to start an
initiative to share the costs of AIDS treatment with 8 of 40 bottlers
in Africa. These 8 participating bottlers are some of the largest in
Africa, and several already have insurance plans of their own.
Activists are concerned about Coke's commitment to extending a
workable plan quickly to the many smaller bottlers starting medicines
schemes from scratch. The devil is in the details, and the details
from Coke are not forthcoming.
Coke will demand workers contribute a 10% co-payment on drugs.
Activists point out this is Coke's cynical ploy to drive down use of
the program by creating barriers to access. Workers can't afford a
co-payment and won't use the program. Coke on the other hand can
easily afford the cost of the co-pay-marginal for them.
Coke isn't committing to buying from multiple drug suppliers. Maximum
benefit for workers comes from drugs procured at the cheapest price.
That means negotiating price with multiple companies, including
generic producers. When will Coke publicly commit to using generic
competition to ensure maximum coverage of workers?
What about the family? Children of workers aren't covered under the
current plan-only the worker and one spouse. Coke must not be allowed
to leave the HIV-positive children of workers behind.
What about the rest of the world? Coke's workplace policies in Africa
are less than perfect. But in the rest of the developing world, they
are worse. Coke workers in regions hard-hit by AIDS need
comprehensive treatment, prevention and care programs-including
access to antiretroviral drugs.
Keep the pressure on! October 17, 2002 is the Global Day of Protest
against Coke.
Coke is feeling the heat from around the world. There has never been
a better time to focus attention on multinational corporations'
obligation to treat their workers.
---------
COCA-COLA, WORKPLACE HIV TREATMENT, AND A GLOBAL DAY OF PROTEST
Dear Colleagues,
Please distribute the following announcement widely. It invites
organizations to endorse and take part in a Global Day of Protest against
Coca-Cola on October 17, 22, for refusing to provide AIDS treatment for
workers and their dependents in developing countries.
The struggle for expanding affordable access to AIDS treatment gained a
victory in August of 2002, when under pressure from labor and AIDS groups,
the mining giants Anglo American, Anglo Gold and De Beers agreed to provide
AIDS treatment-including antiretroviral drugs-to their workers. In the case
of De Beers, the offer extends to a single sex partner of a De Beer's
worker-but not to dependents. Gold Fields stands out as one of the largest
mining corporations in sub-Saharan Africa left that still refuses to provid=
e
AIDS drugs to its workforce, with an estimated HIV seroprevalence of 25%.
While we believe the onus of public health is on the public sector,
businesses have a responsibility to fulfill the human right to treatment
among HIV positive workers and dependents. As corporations implement
workplace treatment programs, pressure is brought upon on governments who
are no longer credible in their arguments that treatment is not feasible.
Coca-Cola, another corporation that has enjoyed a rapidly growing market,
decades of escalating profit and low labor costs in Africa, also refuses to
pay for HIV treatment for the bulk of its workers. Instead, Coke issued a
policy in June 2001 that only HIV positive people among Coke administrative
staff are eligible for access to treatment. This leaves almost 100,000
bottlers and distributors without access to medicines should they become
sick with HIV.
We challenge Coca-Cola to fulfill its fundamental obligation- to implement
comprehensive HIV/AIDS workplace programs and policies, which include
treatment and care for infected workers and their dependents.
With the HIV/AIDS pandemic decimating whole societies, Coca-Cola must take
responsibility for its workplace policies and programs and ensure all HIV
infected workers, and their dependents, have access to AIDS treatment and
care.
We ask you to join us in this campaign. Without international pressure and
attention on Coca-Cola, their policy of inaction and neglect resulting in
otherwise preventable infections and needless illness and death in its
massive workforces in Africa, and in Asia, particularly India and Thailand
will not change.
In Solidarity,
Sharonann Lynch
Health GAP
ACT UP New York
USA
Zackie Achmat
Treatment Action Campaign
South Africa
*please distribute widely and excuse multiple postings*
*************************************************************
STOP MEDICAL APARTHEID -- FIGHT FOR AIDS TREATMENT FOR WORKERS
Call on Coca-Cola, others corporations to treat workers with HIV
OCTOBER 17, 2002: GLOBAL DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST CORPORATIONS DENYING AIDS
DRUGS
*************************************************************
Join ACT UP, Health GAP, Treatment Action Campaign, and others to demand
Coca-Cola and other multinational corporations pay for AIDS treatment for
workers living with HIV/AIDS in developing countries.
*************************************************************
DEMANDS
We demand Coca-Cola and other multinational corporations operating in
developing countries:
* Provide all workers and their dependents with comprehensive healthcare -
including life-sustaining antiretroviral treatments.
* Offer confidential HIV testing and counseling to all workers, in the
context of a clear anti-discrimination policy.
* Distribute free condoms in the workplace, and provide safer-sex and sexua=
l
health education classes.
* Develop further HIV/AIDS prevention and education policies in
collaboration with affected employees, their labor representatives, and
community-based health initiatives.
*************************************************************
MORE INFORMATION
Tel: 1-212-674-9598, Email: info@healthgap.org
Go to: http://www.treat-your-workers.org
- fact sheet on Coke and workers living HIV/AIDS
- updated list of endorsers and campaign materials
- activist toolkits for students, non-students
- growing list of events, protests
*********************************
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE GLOBAL DAY OF PROTEST:
ENDORSE the Global Day of Protest against Coca-Cola by filling out the form
below and sending via email to salynch@healthgap.org.
MOBILIZE people in your area, your organization, on your campus. Download
activist and student toolkits at www.treat-your-workers.org
ORGANIZE: Activists in the U.S., South Africa, Thailand, Morocco, and Franc=
e
will take part in a global day of action to protest Coca-Cola. Similar to
other coordinated solidarity campaigns, the groups will protest Coca-Cola a=
t
location in various countries and cities on the same day. Contact Health
GAP for information on how to take part in your area.
*********************************
Take Action: Tell Coke executives to provide AIDS treatment for all of thei=
r
HIV + workers in Africa
1) Write, Fax, and Call Coca-Cola today:
- Phone: 404-676-4971 or Fax: 404-515-2226
- Download and fax in the community letter to Coke's CEO Doug Daft:
www.treat-your-workers.org
2) Join the campaign for access to HIV/AIDS treatment for workers &
families, and the GLOBAL DAY OF PROTEST- Oct 17, 2002.
Contact:
Sharonann Lynch
Health GAP
Phone: 1-212-674-9598
Email: info@healthgap.org
www.healthgap.org
www.treat-your-workers.org
********
SPONSORS
The organizations sponsoring the Global Day of Protest against Coca-Cola
include Treatment Action Campaign (South Africa), Global AIDS Alliance,
European AIDS Treatment Group, Association Marocaine de Lutte Contre le Sid=
a
(Association Fighting AIDS), Morocco, Health GAP, ACT UP New York, ACT UP
Philadelphia, Act Up-Paris, ACT UP East Bay, the Thai Network of People
Living with HIV (TNP+), and Student Global AIDS Alliance.
Full list of endorsers below.
***********************************************************************
Coke CEO shamed on AIDS Tx non-program for African Workers
From: Kellie Casper, ACT UP Atlanta <kbcasper@bellsouth.net>
Morehouse College, Atlanta - Coke CEO Douglas Daft spoke yesterday.
It became apparent early on in the event that there would be no way to get
heard if interrupting so chose to wait to q n a.
The lady who opened for Daft was Ingrid Saunder Jones, Executive VP
Corporate External Affairs - Coca Cola Company.
She sang his praises as if he were the risen Lord. "Navigated his way
through gray areas in corporate ethics.....blablabla........he all but walk=
s
on water.
Daft began speaking and sang his own praises......how Coke is trustworthy
and ethical and how, even when they make mistakes (like the racist hiring
practices) they fix them. Coke tastes better because they are
trusted.....bla bla bla.
*Values
*Commitment
*Leadership
*Ethics
*Committed to families
*Integrity
Wow.....so much to address when we got up to speak!
They announced for the Q&A there would be no pontificating .....just ONE
question and no further comment.......ha little did they know.....
I (Kellie) was the very first person to ask a question (as if I was REALLY
going to ask a question).....and it went something like this:
I understand Coca-Cola has rolled out a new corporate program to address
AIDS in their African workforce...... 8 of 40 bottlers is NOT
enough......10%copay to workers is eggregious....
no access for treatment for children of workers is morally
reprehensible.....and you are here to talk about corporate
responsibility......corporate responsibility means more than counting the
dead bodies of your African workforce (YOU should have seen his
face)......however, he recovered quickly and began the spin.....
Daft interrupted to say "I was hoping someone would ask me about this" and
then dress me down and let me know that my facts are not right and they are
treating all their African workforce........that we need to be more
informed, etc. He spun it to make it look like Coca Cola was a martyr to
the cause of AIDS treatment........"Other companies are looking to us to se=
e
what we do and follow suit"......"You should be working WITH us not against
us, we are doing what's right for our employees".....
I rebutted (under shoutdown by the moderator) that I did have my facts
straight, we have been trying to get him to meet with us for months, and
Daimler Chrysler, Heineken and Anglo were already doing more than coke was
going to be doing........as I turned back toward the audience I undid my
jacket and let the ACT UP t-shirt be seen (and heard many comments in the
audience)
Quentin (SGAC) then got up ..... warmed him up with a smile and a comment
thanking him for the 3 million dollars to the college......then slammed him
on the fact that their white workforce (1500 was covered for the last year)
but they are letting their African workforce die....
He got a few moments in about the issues and they cut his mike......
Daft (speechless) then said perhaps one shouldn't ask a question if they
didn't have their facts straight (very rudely).........to which I called ou=
t
from the back that our facts were straight and they should be ashamed.
Terri was the next up and she addressed the lack of treatment for children
and how it was ironic that Daft was there to talk about ethics and corporat=
e
responsibility in light of this.....her parting comment was (loudly) YOU
SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELF and she walked down the aisle and out the
door.....
I got up to follow Terri out the door and Mr. Daft *note how the name suits
him* called out to me:
"Kellie, before you go I'd like to say one more thing to you.....
You should be working with us as we try to set a standard, not against us.
You need to get your facts straight and help us as others watch what we are
doing so they can follow suit."
Oy, did he step in it by giving me one more forum?
Response: SIR I do have my facts straight. If you want to "set a standard=
"
then you need to exceed upon the efforts of others. Daimler Chrysler,
Anglo, and Heinekein are all doing more than Coke has proposed to do. If yo=
u
want to set a bar you need to raise it and until you do SHAME ON YOU!"
When I left the school reporter met me out front handing out flyers with
Quinten and Latoiya of SGAC and interviewed me for "the facts" he was very
interested and said he would call for more information also.....he
interviewed me at length and was very interested in getting at the facts of
what Coke is really doing. The interview process stopped a few moments
later when the campus police escorted us off the property. "You cannot
protest here".
"We weren't protesting sir, we came to a public forum and asked questions i=
n
the question and answer period"
"This is private property and you must leave NOW, you cannot do this here,
you will be arrested".
THey followed us off the property.......
When I went around the block I reapproached the officer to see if they woul=
d
allow me to wait for the others who rode with me......they
did.......standing guard......
Daft was totally caught off guard.
Kellie
***********************************************************************
ENDORSE THE GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST COKE, OCTOBER 17, 2002.
SEND TO INFO@HEALTHGAP.ORG
Endorsements so far:
Act Up East Bay, (USA)
Act Up New York, (USA)
Act Up philadelphia, (USA)
Act Up/Cleveland (USA)
Act Up-Paris, (France)
Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA)
Africa Action (USA)
Africa Japan Forum (Japan)
African Services Committee (USA)
Aids Action Baltimore (USA)
Aids Action Baltimore, Baltimore, Md (USA)
AIDS Alliance in Nigeria, NIGERIA
Aids Healthcare Foundation (USA)
Alliance For Justice: Medical Mission Sisters, Wash. Dc (USA)
American Friends Service Committee Pmr (USA)
American Jewish World Service (USA)
American Medical Students Association (USA)
Artists Against Aids Worldwide
Association Marocaine De Lutte Contre Le Sida(Association Fighting Aids),
(Morocco)
Bayou La Rose (USA)
Berkeley Gray Panthers, (USA)
Berkeley Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek
Bread And Roses Community Fund (USA)
California Newsreel (USA)
California Nurses Association (USA)
Canadian Treatment Action Council (Ctac) (Canada)
City Councilor Kriss Worthington (USA)
Connecticut Peace Coalition/ New Haven (USA)
Conscious Movements Collective, Nyc (USA)
Councillors Kriss Worthington, Berkeley (USA)
Councillors Linda Maio, Berkeley (USA)
Councillors Margaret Breland, Berkeley (USA)
Deseret International Foundation Namibia (Namibia)
Disciples Peace Fellowship (Usa)
Drop-In Center For People Living With Aids, New Britain, Ct (USA)
East Bay Community Law Center, Berkeley (USA)
Ecology Center (USA)
Essential Action Wash. Dc (USA)
European Aids Treatment Group,
Fiar (Foundation For Integrative Aids Research), Brooklyn, Ny (USA)
First Congregational Church Of Oakland, Oakland, Ca (USA)
Food First, USA
Freedom Foundation-India (India)
Ganismo Para O Desenvolvimento Socio-Economico Integrado (Mozambique)
GAT - Grupo Portugu=EAs de Activistas sobre Tratamentos de VIH/SIDA
Global Aids Alliance, (USA)
Global Campaign For Microbicides (USA)
Global Exchange, Sf (USA)
Global- Gay, Lesbian, Or Bisexual Alliance (Student Organization At Uh)
(USA)
Global Sweatshop Coalition_(USA)
Green Students For Environmental Awareness, Philadelphia, Pa (USA)
Gri Charitable Foundation (USA)
Harm Reduction Coalition, Nyc (USA)
Hayward City Councilor Kevin Dowling (USA)
Health Gap, (USA)
Indy Design (Canada)
Institute For Agriculture And Trade Policy (USA)
International Action Center (USA)
International Gay And Lesbian Human Rights Commission (Iglhrc) (USA)
International Labor Rights Fund (USA)
Jubilee Northwest Coalition (Usa)
Kaippg/International, Barrington, Ri (USA)
Kenya Association Of Forest Users (Kenya)
Kenya Association Of Forest Users, Nairobi(Kenya)
Lironga Eparu (Namibia)
Lungujja Women=EDs Association (Uganda)
Management Communication (Germany)
M=E9decins Sans Fronti=E8res, Luxembourg
Michigan Pwa Task Force (USA)
Middle East Childrens Alliance, (USA)
Millsaps College Cmt Aids Awareness Task Group (USA)
Mother Africa And Child Care Org/Ghanet/Plwhas (Ghana)
Nadir Hiv Treatment Group, Italian Community Advisory Board, Bologna (Italy=
)
Northwest Coalition For Aids Treatment In Africa(USA)
Nyc Aids Housing Network, Ny (USA)
Philadelphia Chapter, Coalition Of Labor Union Women (Cluw) (USA)
Prakritajan. (Bangladesh)
Project Teach, (USA)
Queer Youth Training Collaborative (USA)
Resources For Survival, (USA)
San Francisco Bay View, (USA)
Sf Bay Area Jubilee Debt Cancellation Coalition (USA)
SF Supervisor Tom Ammiano, USA
Soja - Students Organizing For Justice In The Americas, Oakland, Ca (USA)
Student Global Aids Campaign,(USA)
Students For Global Public Health (USA)
Survive Aids, San Francisco, Ca (USA)
The Center (Zimbabwe)
The Thai Network Of People Living With Hiv (Tnp+), (Thailand)
Treatment Action Campaign (South Africa),
University Of The Witwatersrand Faculty Of Health Sciences, (South Africa)
University of Vermont: Students for Peace and Global Justice, USA
Ursuline of Tildonk for Justice and Peace, USA
Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk, US Province, USA
Vote Health, Oakland, Ca (USA)
Vso Mozambique, Maputo (Mozambique)
World-Women Organized To Respond To Life Threatening Diseases, Oakland, Ca
(USA)
Yale Aids Network (USA)
Zimbabwe Aids Network (Zan) (Zimbabwe)
********************888
SEND TO INFO@HEALTHGAP.ORG
I / We endorse the Global Day of Protest against Coke.
Name:
Organization:
Email:
Address:
Phone:
Fax
Endorsement is
( ) Individual
( ) Organizational
( ) Both
I / my organization can assist with the following needs:
( ) Will attend / bring others
( ) Will assist with the Global Day of Protest by:
***********************************************************************
ENDORSE THE GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION AGAINST COKE, OCTOBER 17, 2002.
SEND TO INFO@HEALTHGAP.ORG
SEND TO INFO@HEALTHGAP.ORG
For background information on the campaign to expand access to AIDS
treatment in developing countries: http://www.globaltreatmentaccess.org
Paul Davis
Health GAP
ACT UP Philadelphia
e: pdavis@healthgap.org
t: +1 215.833.4102 (mobile)
f: +1 215.474.4793
w: www.healthgap.org