Coca Cola labor practices protested in Atlanta
By Dianne Mathiowetz
The union contingent in the Jan. 19 Martin
Luther King Day march here in Atlanta was a sea of red and
white signs targeting the global soft-drink company, Coca Cola,
for its labor practices at home and abroad. The unionists say
Sucocitrico Cutrale Ltd. uses child labor in Brazil. The firm
supplies orange juice concentrate for Minutemaid, a unit of
Coca Cola.
There is also a domestic element in Coke's 30-year
relationship with Cutrale. In October 1996, Minutemaid sold two
of its Florida plants to the Brazil-based company. Wages and
benefits were immediately sharply cut. And the new management
has resisted negotiating a contract with the Florida workers
for over 18 months.
In the week before the King Day march, Teamsters members
joined with Nelson Morelli, a leader of the food workers' union
in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and 10 workers from the Auburndale, Fla.,
plant in a protest demonstration at the Coca Cola Museum, a
downtown tourist attraction.
Morelli cited 1995 UNICEF and U.S. Department of Labor
studies documenting widespread use of child labor in Brazil and
in the orange juice industry. He called on Coca Cola to stop
the exploitation of children.
Coca Cola, headquartered in Atlanta, has been criticized
often for its labor practices. For years, Florida farm workers
trying to organize for better wages and working conditions have
struggled against the anti-union giant.
Coca Cola was also the target of a boycott by the
anti-apartheid movement because of its extensive investments in
South Africa. Coke covered up its business dealings with the
apartheid system by using a South African company to produce
and distribute its products.
In Atlanta, Coca Cola grooms its image as a "good"
corporation, donating a lot of money to the arts and education,
always accompanied by a lot of publicity. But as the Teamster
speaker at the King Day rally said: "Coca Cola, we're not
looking for charity. We're not looking for hand-outs. We want
justice."
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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