If this doesn’t scare you, then nothing will, ever!
-----Original Message-----
From: stop-imf-admin-+wFTmV5zZmtLmy6aaXmzxUB+6BGkLq7r@public.gmane.org
[mailto:stop-imf-admin-+wFTmV5zZmtLmy6aaXmzxUB+6BGkLq7r@public.gmane.org] On Behalf Of Robert Weissman
Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 1:41 PM
To: stop-imf-+wFTmV5zZmtLmy6aaXmzxUB+6BGkLq7r@public.gmane.org
Subject: [stop-imf] FW: Urgent Action - Solidarity with Oscar Olivera in Bolivia
From: "Neil Watkins" <neil-JodekmanIC0Psvy4Q4sdUg@public.gmane.org>
To: <j2000-grassroots-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@public.gmane.org>
Please find below an action alert to support Oscar Olivera, one of the
leaders of the union and social movements in Bolivia that
have been
challenging IMF/World Bank policies. Oscar and his group, La Coordinadora,
successfully challenged the privatization of water by the World Bank and
Bechtel corporation in 2000 and have been organizing on many fronts since then.
As the action alert below indicates, Oscar has been denied his wages
and his
family has been stripped of health insurance. If you have a second to
write
an e-mail to the folks listed below as the alert requests, it would be
a
strong act of solidarity. If you have any questions/for more
information,
please contact to Marcela Olivera, Oscar's
sister, at
marcelaolivera-mn4gwa5WIIQysxA8WJXlww@public.gmane.org,
or Ravi Khanna (contact details at the
end of the message.
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:marcelaolivera-mn4gwa5WIIQysxA8WJXlww@public.gmane.org>Marcela Olivera
To: <mailto:marcelaolivera-eyKT7Dz7j8fIbHVmPPUY6mGXanvQGlWp@public.gmane.org>Marcela Olivera
Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2003 9:55 AM
Subject: Solidarity with Oscar Olivera
Friends and fellow activists,
Our friend and comrade Oscar Olivera is presently the object of a
contemptible campaign of persecution. He has been denied his wages at
Manaco Footwear Company (who belongs to the transnational Bata, in Canada)
without just cause or any explanation. Moreover, Oscar, his wife,
and his
children have been deprived of their medical insurance. Both of these
acts
have stripped away two of Oscar s basic rights as a worker: the right
to
collect wages earned, and the right to health care.
As happens to someone every day in Bolivia since we began
to lift up our
heads and fight, Oscar and his family are being robbed of their right
to
health and life. Oscar is one of the few social fighters in Bolivia
who has
supported himself and his family without any special privileges or
extra
income beyond that of an ordinary worker. It is our duty and collective
responsibility to challenge, with dignity and with our heads held high,
this latest arbitrary act of Manaco s management.
One of the historic conquests of Bolivian workers is the right for
locally
elected union leaders to receive their regular salary and benefits from
the
company while they are performing full-time union work. This is not a
favor
generously bestowed by the bosses. Rather, it is a fundamental
obligation
of the employers to the workers who, with their own labor, support
their
union representatives.
In recent days, the General Manager of Manaco, Arturo Blanco, publicly
accused Oscar of using Manaco s workers to serve his personal
interests.
Sr. Blanco alleged that, under the pretext of protesting the impending
layoff of 16 workers and the surprise announcement of a week of factory
down time without pay, Oscar was seeking to incite workers to join his
organization.
The truth, however, is that individual workers, and the Manaco Union as
a
whole, approached Oscar to represent them in the struggle against
management s decision to impose an unpaid vacation on workers and to
layoff
the 16 co-workers. The Union considers that the fight is
an important
collective struggle because it views the unexpected scheduling of
temporary
down time as a possible first step toward the permanent closing of the
factory.
Management has told workers that workers have received bonuses in the
last
three periods because the company has been losing money. Yet, evidently
speaking out of the other side of his mouth, Sr. Blanco has been quoted
as
publicly stating that our firm has achieved its highest level of
economic
performance of the last four years.
What is certain is that the large transnational firms such as Bata,
which
owns Manaco, view the smaller factories, such as the one in Cochabamba,
as
nuisances. Or, to use management s technical language, we are
considered to
be a unit of production with very high costs. It is clear that the
factory
will either be closed or will see its workforce reduced to a minimum a
process that has been underway for years.
What Sr. Blanco has contributed is to have accelerated this process
through
his incompetence and wastefulness which is precisely what Oscar has
criticized.
For all of these reasons, we urge you to help us organize a national
and
international campaign to denounce and repudiate Sr. Blanco s
arbitrariness. We ask that every person who is outraged by what is
being
done to Oscar and his family, and that every organization, union, and
private or public institution who disagrees with Manaco s practice of
persecution, raise their voice and express their indignation. Please send
letters of support for Oscar to the
following addresses:
Arturo Blanco, Manaco's
Manager,ablanco-kdfD7dw2Z7mmx/0YUONPXQ@public.gmane.org
Fax (591-4) 4117305
Fax (591-4) 4263013
Copy to: Fernado Rivera, latam-JLCa5hMcMnPDOSKQz1NZ6A@public.gmane.org
(Bata regional official in
Mexico)
Tomas Bata,
batalim-b4MmrVKqEFsksJrmExwycw@public.gmane.org (Bata CEO in Canada)
Tomas Bata Jr.,
sbata-b4MmrVKqEFsksJrmExwycw@public.gmane.org
Federation of Factory
Workers from Cochabamba, fabrilco-whJ+P1Lf0ma2JQ/XHjjyFA@public.gmane.org
(Oscar's unions)
ps - The latest update is that Oscar has said he will begin a hunger
strike
until his wages and health insurance are restored.
Forwarded by:
_________________________________
Ravi Khanna, Director
voices from the global village
1world communication
P. O. Box 2476
Amherst, MA 01004
phone: 413-253-1960
cell: 617-620-9640
fax: 413-253-1961
e-mail: <mailto:oneworld-viWR4oFGN3Q@public.gmane.org>oneworld <at> igc.org
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