The Coca Cola factory in the Athens area has announced 150 redundancies, but it seems clear that this is a step towards eventually closing the factory and around 1000 workers would lose their jobs. It is clear the company plans to move production out of Greece and into one of the neighbouring Balkan countries where labour is much cheaper. Wages in Greece are already among the lowest in Western Europe, but obviously not low enough for the Coca-Cola bosses.
The workers are now fighting back. What we need to do internationally is to send protest and solidarity messages from as many countries as possible. Below we are providing two model letters for this purpose, but you can obviously write your own as well.
Protest messages should be sent to the offices of the Coca-Cola company in North America and Europe.
Their email addresses are the following:
In North America:
Coca Cola Press Office: jolecki@fd-us.com
In Europe:
Coca Cola Press Office: alastair.hetherington@fd.com
For all countries:
Solidarity messages should be sent to the union of the Coca-Cola workers in Athens at: stamatiskar {(at)} yahoo.gr
Send copies also to: foni1917 {(at)} yahoo.gr the email of the Greek Marxists who are raising the international solidarity campaign with the Coca-Cola workers.
Please make sure you send emails sent off and also raise this issue with comrades in trade union and/or party positions. You cannot imagine how important international solidarity of this kind can be in raising workers’ morale!
Protest letter:
Dear Sirs,
It had been brought to out attention that you plan to reduce the workforce at your plant in Athens, Greece. You have announced 100 redundancies, but it is common knowledge that this is a step towards closing down the whole plant and moving production to the Balkans. We are following carefully what is happening at the plant and are informing our work colleagues of this. We protest very strongly at this kind of action and we will do our best to expose your plans. An injury to one is an injury to all.
Yours,
....................
Solidarity letter:
Dear brothers and sisters,
We have been informed by the comrades of Marxistiki Foni that the Coca-Cola bosses have announced 100 redundancies in your plant. It seems this is part of a more general plan to eventually close down the whole factory and move production to the Balkans. As usual, the bosses are looking for cheap labour, without any regard for the livelihood of the workers who for years have serevd them well and made profits for them.
We are sending you our solidarity and support and wish you well in your struggle.
Comradely,
……………