Coca-cola lacks squeaky image with Colombian workers

By Mia Stephenson

As you walk around campus, you may notice that every other beverage sold is a Coca-Cola. What isn't very obvious is how the Coke we drink here at Santa Clara is related to military brutality and violence in Colombia.

The fact is, Coke's bottling plant workers are dying and disappearing.

Union members are constantly threatened and pressured to leave the National Food Industry Workers' Union, which is called Sinal Trainal. They have lost hundreds of members through murder and intimidation tactics from paramilitary death squads.

Since 1989, eight union members have been killed by the paramilitary, while many others have been threatened, beaten, or have gone missing.

Hundreds of employees have been forced to resign from the union, most of them fearing for their lives and fleeing from their cities. They are replaced by non-unionized workers who are paid less, and who do not receive any of the benefits union members have acquired.

Non-union labor is much cheaper, for both the plants and for the executives at the top of the corporate chain.

One example of violence against union members was reported by the International Labor Rights Fund. According to their report, a union board member at the plant in Carepa had been seen with a paramilitary squad and had threatened the local union. In December of 1996, a paramilitary group arrived at this plant and shot him to death. They also destroyed the union office and forced members to go into hiding.

This case is not unique.

The United Students Against Sweatshops organization interviewed Limberto Carranza, who is a Coca-Cola employee in Baranquilla as well as the national director of the union.

According to the organization, four masked men grabbed Carranza's son from his bicycle, tortured him, questioned him, and left him in a ditch.

This incident was just last year.

Coca-Cola spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year to advertise a squeaky clean image of a company dedicated to making people's lives better.

They love to "quench" the thirst of the masses alright.

But such ads are hardly necessary to keep loyal consumers buying Coke products. Could none of this money be spared to help save the lives of factory workers?

Apparently not.

The union reports that they have frequently appealed to Coca-Cola for help in putting an end to the violence. But they have only been ignored.

As a major corporation, under which the Colombian bottling plants operate, Coke's executive board has the influence over plant managers to make them stop their intimidating tactics.

Yet Coke refuses to acknowledge any violence and has done nothing to stop the abuse, even though there is suspicion that the company is directly involved with the paramilitaries.

There are currently several lawsuits against Coca-Cola. Schools in the United States and Ireland, as well as several international unions, have even removed Coke from their vicinities.

Even though the company is fighting to maintain its public image, students everywhere are beginning to fight back.

Santa Clara, as a member of both the Workers' Rights Consortium and the Free Labor Association, can join in the fight.

Both the WRC and the FLA have codes of conduct for which factories must adhere to in order to remain licensees of Santa Clara.

This school chose to join the WRC and the FLA because they wanted their products to be manufactured with decent standards; the Jesuit principle of social justice would not allow our school to support any companies that denied their employees basic labor rights.

How can Santa Clara show Coca-Cola that we will not just sit back and let them get away with their unfair practices?

As students, we can join schools across the country and push for an independent investigation into its bottling practices in Colombia. Because of student concern, the Santa Clara administration is already requesting an investigation in coordination with other WRC and FLA members.

With strong campus support, Santa Clara can continue to use its influence to create a change for the better in Colombia.

û Mia Stephenson is a freshman communication major.