Tonight I watched a chilling documentary presented by the comedian Mark Thomas on on Channel 4 Dispatches. The programme focused on unsavoury practices allegedly adopted by the Coca-Cola Company around the world.
The Atlanta-based fizzy drinks company is facing a mounting consumer boycott, which initially kicked off in 2003, on university campuses both in Europe and the US. This is because of its alleged complicity in the murder of eight trade union members who had the misfortune to work for its Colombian bottler.
Before I saw this programme I was under the impression that the concept of a company shooting (or being complicit in the murder) of its own workforce had become rare. I know the Scots-born steel magnate Andrew Carnegie indulged in this sort of activity at his Homestead, Pennsylvania steel works. But that was way back in 1892 and I thought workers’ rights had moved on since then.
Well, according to Thomas, they haven’t. His programme claims that Coca-Cola’s Colombian bottling company is responsible for hiring right-wing militias of the United Self Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC) to murder and intimidate trade union members in the Latin American state. Apparently eight union members at Colombian bottling plants have been murdered in this way since 1990. See Guardian story on these killings here.
Coca-Cola and its bottlers insist that these workers were simply caught in the crossfire of Colombia’s civil war. But the trade union alleges that the paramilitaries were doing the company’s bidding when they threatened, kidnapped and in some cases killed unionised Coca-Cola workers.
The other allegations in Thomas’s programme were no less savoury – and potentially harmful to the Atlanta-based company’s good name. These included that Coca-Cola supported the Nazi regime (for example by taking out ads in literature of the Hitler Youth) and by continuing to sell its pop in Nazi Germany until 1941 and that some of its sugar cane producers in El Salvador were using child labour. Other allegations included that drinking Coke provokes hyeractivity in children, that its plants pollute rivers and that it was depriving parts of the emerging world of their water supply.
Misdemeanours that Thomas failed to mention include that the company continues to mislead American consumers about the true source of its best-selling bottled water Dasani. The label states this is “purified water”, but does not make clear that what this means. In fact, as UK consumers discovered rather sooner than their dumber counterparts across the pond, the product is little more than tap water. As a result, Dasani was given an award by the Consumers International Bad Product Awards for pushing marketing “into the realms of the ridiculous”. (To read an earlier post on Dasani, click here).
No wonder Coke has already been banned from 40 campuses over its alleged attitude towards human rights. I suspect there will be more where these came from as the boycott gathers momentum.
In a statement published on its website in 2006, Coca-Cola said: “The Coca-Cola Company is gratified by Judge Martinez’ decision to dismiss the cases (filed against two Colombian bottlers by the Colombian union Sinaltrainal and others in 2001). We reaffirm our belief that the claims in the suit filed against The Coca-Cola Company and two bottlers in Colombia are inaccurate and based on distorted versions of events. We hope this decision will now enable us to put this case behind us as we continue to focus on working constructively to ensure the rights and safety of Coca-Cola workers in Colombia and worldwide. We are open to discussions with everyone who shares a commitment to finding constructive solutions to workplace issues in areas of conflict around the world.”
“Regardless of this development, The Coca-Cola Company continues to support the International Labour Organisation’s independent and impartial investigation and evaluation of labour relations and workers-rights practices of Coca-Cola bottlers in Colombia.”
To visit the Killer Coke campaign website click here.
This blog post was published in 22 November 2007