http://www.workers.org/2006/us/coca-cola-0112/
In solidarity with Colombian workers
U of M students boot Coca-Cola off campus
By Julie Fry
Published Jan 5, 2006 10:40 PM
The University of Michigan announced on Dec. 29 that it is suspending its
contract with the Coca-Cola Corp. This makes U of M the 10th university in the
U.S. to kick Coca-Cola off campus in the wake of revelations about murders and
other abuses of Coca-Cola workers in several countries, especially Colombia.
Rutgers in New Jersey and New York University are among those that have already
banned Coca-Cola products. But with 50,000 students, U of M is the largest
university so far to suspend its Coca-Cola contract.
U of M's announcement comes after a year-long campaign by students at the
university. Similar campaigns are occurring on campuses nationwide. The
students at U of M formed an organization called the Coalition to Cut the
Contract with Coca-Cola. It represents a broad range of U of M students and
includes among its members Asian, Indigenous, Latin@ and Muslim student
organizations, as well as student-labor solidarity organizations, environmental
groups and others.
According to a statement released by the coalition, the students, through the
university, have been trying to force Coca-Cola to consent to an independent
investigation of the murder of nine Coca-Cola workers and union organizers by
right-wing paramilitaries in Colombia. The Colom bian workers say these murders
were ordered and paid for by the Coca-Cola Corp. The workers have sued
Coca-Cola and currently have a case pending in Miami against the company.
The students also demanded an investigation into the environmental devastation
Coca-Cola has caused in India, where the company's plants have caused severe
contamination of the groundwater. The coalition also raised the issue of
Coca-Cola's operations in Turkey, where 100 union supporters and organizers
were fired in May of 2005 and then beaten when they demanded their jobs back.
According to the coalition, Coca-Cola refused to consent to any independent
investigation without assurances that the information gathered in that
investigation would not be used in the current lawsuit against the company.
Workers in Colombia and in other parts of the world have been struggling for
years to bring attention to the crimes of the Coca-Cola Corp. The university
bans are part of an international boycott called originally by the Colombian
union Sinal trainal. Unions in Colombia hailed the recent decision by U of M
and other schools.
"Coca-Cola is a frequent violator of union rights, and that's why several
universities in the United States have decided to protest their conduct," said
Fabio Arias, vice president of Colombia's CUT trade union confederation, which
represents 550,000 workers. (Associated Press, Jan. 3)
A victory such as this at a school as large as the University of Michigan
surely adds to the momentum of the international Coca-Cola boycott. But the
fight is not over yet. The U of M students noted that the ban at their school
was officially only a temporary one and that the university administration
continues to insist that the Coca-Cola Corp. is acting in "good faith."
Students at the U of M and other universities plan to keep up the pressure on
their campuses to make sure that the ban stays in place until the workers win
their demands.
Julie Fry is a former University of Michigan student.
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