Killer Coke’s deadly policies exposed
By
Bryan G. Pfeifer
Published Jun 30, 2005 9:05 PM
A formidable struggle against
Coca-Cola’s labor and human-rights violations in Colombia and elsewhere
continues building in the United States, Canada and many other countries. The
Student Coali tion to Cut the Coca-Cola Contract—with over 20
organizations representing 5,000 students at the University of
Michigan—dealt the latest blow to the multi-billion dollar
corporation.
In a June 20 news release, the coalition announced that the
university has placed Coke “on probation” until August 2006 because
of the corporation’s actions in Colombia and India.
Atlanta-based
Coca-Cola markets four of the world’s top five soft-drink brands: Coke,
Diet Coke, Fanta and Sprite. Foun ded in 1886, the company has operations in
more than 200 countries. It produces nearly 400 beverage brands, including
Dannon, Dasani, Minute Maid and Nestea.
Amit Srivastava, a leading member
of the U of M student coalition and a member of the India Resource Center there,
said: “The students at Michigan have secured a significant victory for the
people of India and Colombia. Their actions have paved the way for other
colleges and universities to join the growing number of campuses applying
pressure on the Coca-Cola Co.” (www.IndiaResource.org)
The
university’s concession came only after a massive months-long campaign at
various U of M campuses. Actions included two public hearings at the university.
Representatives of Sinaltrainal, the labor union at Coca-Cola plants in
Colombia, participated in the hearings, along with members of the Steel Workers
union and United Students Against Sweatshops. Sinaltrainal is asking supporters
to boycott all Coke products.
After a 10-month investigation by a
university Dispute Review Board—an advisory body created by the university
under pressure from the student coalition—Coke was found guilty of
violating U of M’s Vendor Code of Conduct. According to the DRB, the
decision was based on both scientific proof of high pesticide levels in Coke
soft drinks in India and the corporation’s repeated violations of labor
laws in Colombia.
In India, Coke has been selling products laced with
pesticides, including DDT—sometimes at levels as high as 30 times those
allowed by United States and European Union standards.
On May 19, the Food
and Drug Admi ni stration barred a shipment of Coke products made in India from
entering the United States. The grounds: the products were “unsafe”
and “not conforming to U.S. laws.”
At U of M, the DRB said it
would further assess the issues of Coke depleting groundwater and disposing of
its toxic waste as fertilizer to farmers around its plants in India.
The
DRB ordered Coke to submit to a third-party independent investigation regarding
its corporate practices in India and Colombia by Sept. 30. An audit is to be
completed by March 31, 2006. Coke is then supposed to adhere to a corrective
action plan in place by May 31, 2006.
Furthermore, the university has
renewed its contract with Coke only on a conditional three-month basis,
beginning in June 2005 and pending satisfactory action by the
corporation.
The DRB further stated that if Coke doesn’t meet these
deadlines and satisfactory progress isn’t made, “the University
business relationship with Coca-Cola shall be suspended and Coca-Cola products
shall not be offered at the University, which includes but is not limited to
vending, food service operations, athletic events and University-catered
events.”
Killer Coke’s history
In the United
States, Coke has a history of discriminating against African Amer icans. In June
2000 the corporation settled a class-action lawsuit with over 1,500 Black
workers. There was massive evidence of unequal pay, biased promotions, a
racially hostile work environment and retaliation against workers who aired
grievances, according to the book “War in Colombia: Made In USA.”
(www.leftbooks.com)
In Colombia, Coke’s main Latin Amer ican
bottler, Panamco, is charged with hiring right-wing paramilitaries to
assassinate and terrorize union leaders, their loved ones and their communities.
(www. killercoke.org)
Since 1989, at least eight union leaders from
Coke’s bottling plants in Colombia have been murdered by paramilitary for
ces. In the United States, the Steel Workers union is suing Coke and Pana mco
under the Alien Claims Tort Act for having “contracted with or otherwise
directed paramilitary security forces that used extreme violence and murdered,
tortured, and unlawfully detained trade union leaders.”
(www.uswa.org)
More than 3,000 labor unionists have been assassinated in
Colombia since 1990. In the recent period, many U.S-based corporations and the
U.S. imperialist government, mostly through Plan Colombia, have worked
hand-in-glove with the Colombian government and ruling class to perpetuate this
terrorism.
Some 63 percent of the people of Colo mbia live in
poverty—25 percent in abject misery.
But international unity and
solidarity with Colombian unions is building rapidly:
* In April, the
Representative Assembly of the 525,000-member New York State United Teachers
union, an affiliate of the Federation of Teachers, adopted a resolution to
refrain from serving or selling Coke products at its offices, events or
meetings. (www.nysut.org)
* In recent months federations, labor councils,
and unions across the United States have passed scores of resolutions to protest
Coke’s labor and human-rights violations, banning Coke machines and pro
ducts from union halls, and demanding schools remove Coke machines. The unions
include various locals of the Postal Workers, California Federation of Teach
ers, Communication Workers, Service Employees, Auto Workers, and Steel Workers.
Many Canadian and British union locals have passed similar resolutions.
(www.killercoke.org)
* Bowing to massive student pressure, Rutgers
University in New Jersey did not renew Coke’s exclusive beverage contract,
effective June 1, 2005. Active campaigns to ban Coke are now under way at over
30 campuses in the United States and other countries.
* An
“International Campaign to Hold Coca-Cola Accountable” workshop was
held at the World Social Forum at Porto Alegre, Brazil in January. There, over
500 activists learned about ways to protest Killer Coke and support Colombian
unionists. (www.iacenter.org)
Motisola Abdallah, an African Amer ican
woman and one of the original four plaintiffs who brought the discrimination
lawsuit against Coke in 1999, sums up the Killer Coke struggle: “I’m
happy that the struggle against Coca-Cola is long-term and global. It proves
that workers wherever they live are all in this together. A corporation like
Coca-Cola isn’t just unfair to its workers in one place. Injustice runs
throughout a business where profit is the driving
motivation.
“Anyone fighting for justice can’t give up.
Together we can bring change, real harmony, real justice.” (War in
Colombia)
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