Drummond says it won't settle union lawsuit

Drummond Co. said on Mar. 22 it has no plans to reach an out-of-court settlement with people who sued the company over the 2001 killings of union activists connected to its coal mine in Colombia. "Other multinational companies have been subject to similar claims," Drummond said in a statement. "Some have reached settlement agreements.... Drummond will not settle or make any payments." Birmingham, AL-based Drummond began developing its Colombian mine in the 1980s, entering a country torn by decades of civil war between revolutionaries and the established social and economic classes. In 2003, a Colombian union and the families of the three slain labor leaders sued Drummond Ltd., the company's Colombian unit, in US District Court in Birmingham. The suit says the union activists were pulled from a bus carrying Drummond workers and shot. The Colombian government said this week it is investigating the matter. Drummond's hourly workers in Colombia are represented by the labor union that has sued the company. US District Judge Karon Bowdre ruled that a former Colombian security officer can testify at the trial, which she has set for May. Rafael Garcia, serving a prison sentence in Colombia, said in a sworn affidavit he witnessed payments from a Drummond official to armed groups with connections to anti-union violence. Drummond said today it has sued Garcia for defamation and slander. Drummond was founded in Walker County in 1935 by Heman Drummond, father of Garry Neil Drummond, who now runs the billion-dollar company. It once operated dozens of Alabama mines, but began closing them in the 1980s as reserves dwindled. Drummond has spent more than $2 billion developing its original mine in northwest Colombia, and another that is under construction in the same area.