June 26, 2003
Rights Groups Overseas Fight U.S. Concerns in U.S. Courts
By JUAN FORERO
LA LOMA, Colombia - In March 2001, during what union members describe as a
labor dispute, two union leaders were pulled off a company bus after it left
the coal mining compound here and were shot dead by paramilitary gunmen. Six
months later another union leader was also assassinated.
For Colombia, such killings are routine; nearly 90 percent of union leaders
reported killed worldwide die here. Few of the murders are ever resolved.
But the company involved, Drummond, is American, and last year an American
labor rights group filed suit in a United States district court charging that
the killers "were acting as employees or agents" of the company.
Drummond, based in Birmingham, Ala., denies any involvement. "We're not
disputing the plaintiffs' claim that it was paramilitary terrorists," said
William Jeffress, a Washington lawyer representing the company. "But we do
dispute the outrageous accusations that these people were working with
Drummond."
The case is one of a growing number of lawsuits that are stirring a fierce
debate over whether American companies should be liable - in American courts -
for rights abuses committed on or near their foreign installations.
The outcome could have important implications not only for Drummond, a
68-year-old, family-owned company, but also for several dozen American
multinationals being sued under a formerly obscure law, the Alien Tort Claims
Act, which was once used to combat piracy.
Today the 214-year-old statute is being used to wield lawsuits for alleged
complicity in human rights abuses against some of the best known names in
American business: ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, Del Monte, Citigroup and Bank of
America.
Five of the companies being sued operate here in Colombia, including two
bottlers affiliated with Coca-Cola that have been accused by the same labor
group of using paramilitary groups to kill union leaders.
The companies deny the charges and are fighting them in court.
The Bush administration has come to the defense of some companies, particularly
in the energy sector, and spoken out forcefully against the lawsuits, arguing
that they interfere with foreign policy and open multinational companies to
frivolous or irrelevant grievances.
In May the Justice Department submitted a strongly worded brief in favor of the
oil company Unocal, which is challenging a suit filed in 1996 in the federal
Court of Appeals in San Francisco accusing it of using slave labor in Myanmar,
formerly Burma. The administration argued that the alien tort law had been
"commandeered" to allow cases that had "no connection whatsoever
with the United States."
Last year the State Department similarly asked a court to dismiss a suit
against ExxonMobil in Indonesia, saying it could hurt the fight against
terrorism. Washington also raised concerns over a suit against the Rio Tinto
mine in Papua New Guinea, and the case was dismissed.
Human rights groups called the Unocal brief a "frontal assault" on
the use of the law and contend that the concerns are a smokescreen to protect
companies with ties to the Bush administration, particularly in the energy
industry. They argue that the suits provide a measure of accountability for
corporations that have profited from ties with repressive governments or
illegal groups. In many of these countries, they add, suits filed in American
courts are the only avenue for justice.
"You have to go look for help in the United States, to file a suit,
because you cannot do that here," said a relative of one of the union
leaders killed here, who asked not to be identified for fear of being harmed.
"Here, how could we ever win?"
In all, 26 suits have been filed in the past decade, many with the
Washington-based International Labor Rights Fund as lead counsel. Half have
been dismissed; the others face obstacles as plaintiffs begin the arduous
process of proving links between company policy and abuses.
Terry Collingsworth, director of the rights fund, said the purpose of the suits
is not to win damages, but to change business practices. "We aren't doing
this to make those victims millionaires," he said in an interview in
Washington. "We want to see those companies change."
Drummond is no stranger to violence in Colombia. Leftist rebels have bombed
company trains that transport coal from the Pribbenow mine to the coast on 40
occasions in the eight years the company has operated here. Drummond, like
other energy companies, pays the government to provide protection; several
hundred soldiers are stationed inside company installations.
Even as Drummond has been embroiled in the lawsuit, it has tried to maintain a
good image. The company has spent $4.5 million on social programs and for
projects like paving roads and upgrading schools. Negotiations over contracts
have been peaceful, and wages for many of the company's 1,800 workers - 1,200
of them in unions - can be five times the national minimum wage.
"We want to be seen as good neighbors," said Augusto Jiménez,
president of Drummond operations here.
The company has largely shifted its operations from Alabama to this stiflingly
hot region, attracted by huge deposits of high-quality coal and low labor
costs. It has invested $1 billion, and with two more mines set to open within
five years, it is positioning itself to double its output and greatly increase
its exports to Europe and the United States.
But in interviews here, union officials said some of that success stemmed from
what they alleged is an association with paramilitary gunmen, who in 39 years
of conflict in Colombia have fought leftist rebels and killed hundreds of union
leaders.
The lawsuit charges that Drummond intimidated the union by permitting
"known paramilitaries to freely enter their mining facilities" and by
allowing pamphlets to be passed out accusing labor leaders of being part of a
"guerrilla union."
Union leaders repeated the allegations in interviews, and company officials
denied the assertions.
The suit contends that the union was left rudderless, to Drummond's benefit,
after Valmore Locarno, the president of the local, and Víctor Orcasita, the
vice president, were killed. Mr. Locarno's successor, Gustavo Soler, was killed
half a year later. Since then, at least one union leader escaped assassination,
and others have fled the country.
Union leaders, who say they still fear for their lives, have garnered the
support of the local miners' union in Alabama, which says 2,000 miners have
been laid off there since the 1980's as Drummond's interest in Colombia has
grown.
"I could end up like Gustavo Soler," said Humberto Suárez, now vice
president of the union here. "You have to keep your head down."
Drummond's president in Colombia, Mr. Jiménez, and other officials strongly
denied the charges, and said that the union has had good relations with
management. "I will just say the complaint is full of lies," said Mr.
Jeffress, the company's lawyer, "and if we have to try the case, we will
prove it."
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
A suggested action from Colombia Support Network:
Our union friends at Drummond's mining operations in Colombia continue to receive serious threats of violence from high levels of management at Drummond, and some have recently been forced to go into exile. As a result, we have been asked to start a letter writing campaign to Drummond to pressure them to take action to stop the repression. A sample letter is below. Please encourage your contacts to send letters such as this to Drummond. Thank you.
Garry N. Drummond, CEO
Drummond Company, Inc.
530 Beacon Parkway, Suite 900
Birmingham, Alabama 35209
Re: Safety of Colombian Workers
Dear Mr. Drummond:
I am writing to you about the grave situation at your mining, port and railway
operations in Colombia, South America. As you well know, three (3) of your
union employees -- Valmore Locarno, Victor Orcasita and Gustavo Soler -- were
brutally murdered by paramilitary forces who dragged them off of buses carrying
them home from your mines. Prior to their murders, these individuals and their
union had one simple request of you, a request echoed by the government
authorities of the DAS -- that is, that you allow employees the option of
staying overnight at the mines between shifts so that they do not have to
travel the dangerous highways at night patrolled by armed actors.
Incredibly, even after the deaths of Locarno, Orcasita and Soler, you continue
to refuse this simple and reasonable request. And, as a result of your
unwillingness to deal with this matter, workers under your employ continue to be
threatened by armed groups as well as by your own management in Colombia --
including by Augusto Jiminez, President of Drummond Ltd., himself -- some of
these workers actually being forced to go into hiding and exile. Meanwhile,
demonstrating your awareness of the dangers to your employees as well as your
greater concern for your American employees, you provide a private runway and
compound for your American supervisors, a compound which is under 24-hour
protection of the Colombian military.
I am aware of the lawsuits filed against Drummond which allege that your own
management conspired with paramilitaries to murder Locarno, Orcasita and Soler
and continue to conspire with paramilitaries to threaten and intimidate trade
unionists. These allegations are disturbing in the least and warrant your
immediate attention, investigation and action to ensure that your management
ceases and desists from all such activity. Meanwhile, I implore you to honor
the continuing request of your employees for improved safety and for the right
to stay at your facilities overnight to protect their lives. Nothing less than
these affirmative actions are required of you. Moreover, your continued,
callous failure to take these steps can be seen as nothing less than evidence
of the malevolence toward your Colombian workers alleged in the lawsuits now
pending against your company and you personally. Please keep me up to date with
the progress of your efforts to secure the lives of your workers in Colombia.
Colombia Support Network
P.O. Box 1505
Madison, WI 53701-1505
phone: (608) 257-8753
fax: (608) 255-6621
e-mail: csn@igc.org
http://www.colombiasupport.net