https://www.cetim.ch/human-rights-violations-by-coca-cola-in-colombia/
Human Rights Violations by Coca Cola in Colombia
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY COCA COLA IN COLOMBIA1
The transnational corporation Coca Cola,2 settled in Colombia in 1940, through a franchise granted to the Indega S.A. bottling company in the central area, northern coast and north-eastern area of Colombia.3 The bottling companies under Indega S.A. were bought out in 1995 by Panamco Beverages, Inc., with 25% of its shares held by Coca Cola. In May 2003, Fomento Mexicano S.A. bought Panamco through the Coca Cola Femsa S.A. franchise, with Coca Cola retaining 31,6% of the shares. This is the company that holds the franchise in Colombia, and through which it operates in most Latin American countries.
Through this off-shore legal framework, Coca Cola produces and sells its products keeping ownership of the brands, capital control and a presence on the board of directors of the local enterprises. It also controls all the processes regarding raw materials, supplies, production, distribution and labour policy, avoiding liability for the human rights violations committed.
Coca Cola’s activities in Colombia affect the environment and health, among others.4 But, above all, the history of Coca Cola in Colombia is that of a permanent attack on labor and trade-union rights, including the killing of at least ten trade unionists and links with paramilitary groups.
Working time extensions and pace-of-work increases have allowed the transnational corporation to operate with 5 Coca Cola Femsa bottling plants and close 11 in 2003, laying off hundreds of workers. Sinaltrainal members started a hunger strike in March 2004, in order to try to avoid the wide-scale lay-off of workers. In 2014, with the opening of the gigantic bottling plant that the company is building in Tocancipá, Cundinamarca, new bottling plant closings and lay-offs are planned.
According to company documents known to Sinaltrainal union leaders, such as “Dia D”, “Plan Pandrino” and “el Corrientazo”, Sinaltrainal is considered as an obstacle to reducing labour costs, since it opposes subcontracting, which accounts for some 70% of the over 7,000 workers involved in the company’s production. Such subcontracting is carried out through front companies, many of which belong to the transnational corporation itself, among which: Atencom S.A.S., Imbera, OXXON, FL Colombia S.A.S. They simulate direct working contracts, thus preventing the paying of benefits provided for under the collective labor contract. Sinaltrainal is opposed to the so-called positive human resources plan, which is how the company weakens the trade union (that at present has only 287 affiliated workers), in order to eliminate the collective labor contract and to put illegal pressure on the workers so as to make them give up their work contracts.
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