Coalition Against Coke Contracts (CACC)

Coca-Cola Kicked out of University of Illinois!

2007-08-06T13:58:00.000-05:00

In another landmark victory for student campaigns against Coca-Cola, the company has been kicked out of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. U of I is the third university this summer -- following Smith College in the U.S. and the Banaras Hindu University in India -- to have terminated its beverage contract with Coca-Cola. Coalition Against Coke Contracts (CACC), the group that led the campaign at UIUC, dedicates this victory to the indomitable fighting spirit of communities ravaged by Coke -- from Colombia to India.

Coca-Cola has been the exclusive beverage provider at the University of Illinois since 1997. According to the terms of the contract, only Coke products were sold on campus. Such monopolistic arrangements have been emblematic of the growing corporatization of education. The contract between University of Illinois and Coca-Cola received much criticism from students, faculty, staff and the local community for, among other reasons, the company's labor & human rights abuse and environmental degradation in India, Colombia, Indonesia and Turkey.

In Colombia, for instance, Coca-Cola's union busting efforts in collaboration with the paramilitaries have resulted in the death of eight union leaders since 1989. Similarly, workers in Coke bottling plants in Turkey and Indonesia have been routinely subjected to violence and intimidation upon attempting to unionize. In India, the company is involved in massive extraction and pollution of ground water. The pollution control board of Kerala, India, has found out that Coca-Cola is responsible for dumping toxic waste into the fields and water around its plants. Further, independent investigations of Coca-Cola products in India have been found to include high levels of pesticides.

For the past two years, CACC, a student & community group in Champaign Urbana has forcefully demanded that the University end its business relationship with Coca-Cola in light of the company's egregious records. It has further demanded a public statement from the administration regarding, what has been stated by Chancellor Hermand as "Coca-Cola's recalcitrance" on the afore-mentioned issues. More than 25 local groups joined the coalition, holding numerous dialogs with the administration and organizing public actions. Even as the current contract with Coca-Cola expired on June 30, CACC organized "the last day of contract" action that involved soda-tasting of a range of locally produced beverages.

For the new beverage contract, the University of Illinois has decided to comply with the State's decision to grant pouring rights to Pepsi. CACC has always been vocal about supporting local businesses and vendors over big corporations. The numerous soda-tasting events organized by CACC over the the past year received an overwhelming response. CACC welcomes the University's decision not to do business with Coca-Cola and hopes that the retail stores outside the contract with Pepsi will take into account the choice of campus community and provide locally manufactured beverages.

Earlier this year, the Urbana Champaign campus made a historic decision to put an end to its racist mascot, thanks to a broad-based campus-wide movement. Non-renewal of the contract with Coca-Cola is another step toward creating a progressive campus. CACC hopes that the University administration will take affirmative steps toward making sure that it does not enter into business relationships with corporations that have no respect for human and labor rights. Finally, the inclusion of progressive student groups in long-term decision making would be a positive way of achieving this.

UIUC Coke Contract Expires, University Yet To Release Plan

2007-06-30T17:58:00.000-05:00

Even as the current contract expires, University of Illinois continues to evade real questions.

The 10-year-long exclusive contract between University of Illinois and Coca-Cola formally ended on June 30, 2007. Despite a strong opposition to the contract from students, faculty, staff and the community, and Coca-Cola's refusal to take responsibility for violating human, labor and environmental rights, the U. of I administration chooses to remain silent.

For the past 2 years the Coalition Against Coke Contracts (CACC) has organized a campaign against the exclusive contract with Coca-Cola. More than 25 groups in Urbana Champaign including academic departments, student and community organizations have endorsed the campaign.

CACC organized 'the last day of contract' action on June 29, 2007 that was well attended. The attendees sampled locally produced beverages and rated those as they enjoyed Paul Kotheimer's innovative performance on various ways to remove Coke machines. The coalition delivered a collective letter to the Chancellor. Urging the university to break its silence, the letter says, "Until we can successfully rid Coca-Cola and its subsidiary products from this campus, the atmosphere which condones the abuses of multinational corporations will fester."

In his response to the action, the chair of Licensing Advisory committee Bill Adams said that the administration has no clear information on what kinds of beverages will be available on the campus from July 1st.

Finally, the following are CACC demands:

1. Do not get into a contract with Coca-Cola, whether exclusive or otherwise.

2. Issue a public statement on the beverage contract for next year.

3. Issue a public statement highlighting Coca Cola's reticence to address serious concerns regarding its business practices.

4. Issue a public statement on the University's commitment to ethics in the business dealings.And here is the rest of it.

6/29: Last Day of the Contract Action

2007-06-27T18:30:00.000-05:00

Even as the Exclusive contract between University of Illinois and Coca-Cola draws to an end this week, the administration fails to disclose the plans after the contract.

Please join us on Friday, June 29th to tell the administration that Coca-Cola must go!

When: Friday, June 29th at Noon
Where: South patio, quad

We will meet on the quad and then march over to Swanlund. Please wear black as a gesture of solidarity to the worldwide campaigns for fair labor and environmental justice.

If you cannot make it to the action, please email/call the office of the Chancellor [rhh@uiuc.edu] [217-3336290] to voice your opposition to the contract with Coca-Cola.

Coke Outta UIUC!

La Casa Cultural Latina at UIUC Removes Coke Machine

2007-06-27T09:18:00.000-05:00

La Casa Cultural Latina at the University of Illinois has removed the Coca-Cola vending machine as a response to student concerns about Coca-Cola's history of labor abuses in Colombia and environmental degradation in India. The Coalition Against Coke Contracts supports La Casa's decision and urges other University departments, cultural houses, and programs to request the removal of Coca-Cola vending machines on their premises.

UK Coca-Cola Workers Take Strike Vote

2007-06-25T21:03:00.000-05:00

Yorkshire Evening Post
By Stuart Robinson

"A ROW over pay will see hundreds of workers at a soft drinks' distribution centre in Wakefield balloted on strike action. Hundreds of staff at the Coca-Cola distribution centre on the 41 Industrial Estate are to be balloted.

Union leaders have today warned that if their members at the site opt to take industrial action, it could have a "devastating effect" on supplies of Coca-Cola and other products to shops, supermarkets, pubs and hotels across the UK."

Click on the title to read more.

Coca-Cola Continues Environmental Abuses in India

2007-06-17T17:21:00.000-05:00

New Delhi, India (June 4, 2007): In a shocking finding, another Coca-Cola bottling plant in India has been found to be operating in complete violation of environmental laws and regulations in India.

A fact-finding team led by the India Resource Center to a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar in the state of Uttar Pradesh issued a report today detailing the violations.

Specifically, the team found that:

* The plant is indiscriminately dumping its sludge, considered to be industrial hazardous waste, across the plant premises, in complete violation of the laws regarding handling and disposal of industrial hazardous waste in India.
* The Effluent Treatment Plant was non-operational, and the bottling plant was discharging its wastewater into surrounding agricultural fields and a canal that feeds into the river Ganges.
* The plant did not disclose the amount of hazardous waste being used and generated, as required by the Supreme Court of India for all industrial units in India that deal with hazardous waste.

The full report with images can be found at Coke Balia Facts (Hindi version)

Such careless disposal of the sludge and the wastewater results in the pollution of the agricultural lands, local water supplies as well as the food chain. At stake are the very lives and livelihoods of thousands of people who live around the bottling plant premises, who are primarily farmers.

The findings are particularly disturbing because the Coca-Cola company has had ample time to align its operations in India with environmental rules and regulations, and it has been rapped for similar wrongdoings before.

In 2003, the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India assessed the sludge at eight Coca-Cola bottling plants, and found them all to contain excessive levels of lead, cadmium or chromium. As a result, the CPCB ordered the Coca-Cola company in India to treat its waste as industrial hazardous waste, and deal with it accordingly.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) also tested the sludge around the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada in Kerala in 2003, and found it to be toxic. The Coca-Cola company was distributing the toxic sludge to farmers as ‘fertilizer’, and was ordered by government authorities to stop the practice after the toxicity of the sludge was confirmed. The BBC report found that the toxins from the sludge had polluted the groundwater.

The bottling plant in Sinhachawar is a Coca-Cola franchisee owned unit operated by the Brindavan Bottlers Limited, which is owned by India’s largest bottler of Coca-Cola, the Ladhani Group of Companies.

“Our lives have been made much more difficult after the Coca-Cola bottling plant began its operations here,” said Mr. Baliram of the locally based Coca-Cola Bhagao, Krishi Bachao Sangharsh Samiti (Get Rid of Coke, Save Farming Struggle Committee). “We are demanding that the Coca-Cola plant be shut down immediately and be investigated for any wrongdoing.”

The fact finding team, which included twenty residents from the village of Sinhachawar, also heard complaints of illegal land acquisition by the bottling plant as well as the drying up of water wells and hand water pumps since the bottling plant began operations.

“The Coca-Cola company is announcing to the world that it is an environmentally responsible company, and it has partnered with UN agencies and NGO’s to paint a pretty green picture of itself. But all that is corporate social responsibility gone wrong because the reality on the ground is different. It is littered with toxic waste and a complete disregard and destruction of the way of life as many people in rural India know it,” said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center.

“Coca-Cola’s track record in India is indicative of an arrogant company that operates with impunity,” said Srivastava.

The Coca-Cola company’s operations in India have been challenged by various communities across India who are experiencing severe water shortages as well as polluted water and land as a result of the company’s practices. The Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada, one of the company’s largest in India, has been shut down since March 2004.

The local campaigns to challenge Coca-Cola in India have found tremendous support internationally, and particularly among college and university students in the US, UK and Canada. Just last week, the prestigious Smith College in the US announced that it will no longer do business with the Coca-Cola company because of concerns in India, ending a five decade relationship with the Coca-Cola company. Over twenty colleges and universities have taken similar actions.

The Central Pollution Control Board has been asked to investigate the pollution at the Sinhachawar bottling plant immediately, and other agencies dealing with water and land have also been asked to intervene in the matter of the offending Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar.

The fact finding team has recommended that the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Sinhachawar be shut down immediately to prevent any further damage to the community and the environment.

For more information, visit India Resource Center

Smith College Drops Coca Cola

2007-06-17T17:18:00.000-05:00

Daily Hampshire Gazette, “Convinced of abuses, Smith College severs ties with Coca-Cola,” By Kristin Palpini and Andrew Horton, June 1, 2007

“After a two-year study into Coca-Cola's alleged environmental and labor rights violations, Smith joins 40 colleges and universities nationwide that have barred Coca-Cola from campus. The list of colleges banning Coke includes Hampshire College (which booted Coke in 2006), Simons Rock College in Great Barrington, New York University and Rutgers University. In the letter, Christ cites poor business practices in Colombia and India as reasons why the college has decided not to renew Coca-Cola's contract.

“The Soft Drink Advisory Committee 'looked at the prevailing concerns over the corporation, their environmental practices in India and their labor practices in Colombia, and we decided that what's being said about Coke is right and true,' said Kristen A. Cole, media relations director at Smith.”

Coke Wins Corporate Greenwashing Award

2007-06-17T17:11:00.000-05:00

The Corporate Greenwashing Award is presented to companies that have pushed profits higher while investing millions of dollars into covering up environmentally damaging practices with corporate social responsibility projects. Read More:

World Wildlife Foundation Greenwashes Coke

Coke Claims to be a good corporate citizen

Coke Futher Undermines Colombia Investigation

2007-06-17T17:08:00.000-05:00

June 6th, The Sydney Morning Herald reported: "Employers led by a Coca-Cola executive [Ed Potter] stopped the International Labour Organisation examining violations of workplace rights in Colombia..." Click on the title of this post to read more.

Need a Course for the Fall? Try the Chancellor's Course in Situational Ethics....

2007-05-07T09:31:00.000-05:00

[click on image for larger size]

CACC Action at Swanlund, 4.18.2007

2007-04-19T23:42:00.000-05:00

the message: uiuc admin, get rid of coca cola!

signs commemorating the workers from Colombia killed by Coca Cola.

andrew, dave, and wendy, educating the passerby.

susan, holding it down.

beth, stopping traffic in the coca cola dress.

trey, the man with the big sign.

the wind, not so considerate of our efforts to have a vigil.

the signs abounded.

Questions About Coke's Abuses Still Outnumber Answers at Shareholder's Meeting

2007-04-18T21:29:00.000-05:00

April 18, 2007

WILMINGTON, DE–Protests inside and outside of Coke shareholders’ annual meeting at Hotel DuPont today display growing concern about the corporation’s abuses. Inside the hotel, Coca-Cola shareholders will vote on a proposal to disclose quality test results for its beverages, like the EPA requires for tap water. Outside, people will carry enlarged copies of handwritten letters from elementary school children challenging Coke’s priorities.

Activists with Corporate Accountability International’s Think Outside the Bottle campaign, which challenges the marketing muscle of bottled water corporations, join a broad range of people expressing concern about Coke’s actions outside of the meeting. The group’s members are concerned that aggressive marketing of Dasani and other brand-names leads consumers to choose bottled over tap water.

“Coke promotes Dasani as safer and healthier than tap water,” says Polaris Institute Director Tony Clarke. “Corporate Accountability International’s resolution simply says, ‘prove it.’”

“Corporations like Coke, Nestlé and Pepsi are undermining people’s confidence in an essential public service,” says Corporate Accountability International Associate Campaigns Director Gigi Kellett. “Adding insult to injury, leading bands like Coke’s Dasani and Pepsi’s Aquafina use tap water as their source.”

“In India, Coke drains water from communities that already face shortages,” says R. Ajayan, Convenor of the Plachimada Solidarity Committee. “The communities want Coke to leave.” Next week marks the fifth anniversary of the movement pressuring Coke to close its Plachimada bottling plant. The corporation’s Plachimada and Mehdiganj plants remain the center of international controversy.

Most people won’t have access to enough water within 20 years according to the United Nations. And the EPA projects 36 states will experience water shortages even sooner. Events like the Coca-Cola sponsored EPA conference on Paying for Water Infrastructure in Atlanta last month and the World Water Forum last year promote water privatization as the solution.

“Corporations promote water privatization under the guise of efficiency. But whether it’s Coke or Pepsi bottling our tap water, Nestlé draining groundwater, or Suez taking over municipal water systems, none of these corporations pay the full costs of the public infrastructure they use, the environmental damage they cause or the health problems of the people they hurt,” says Kellett. “There is no substitute for public water. Water is a human right, not a privilege.”

For Immediate Release:
April 18, 2007

Contacts:
Bryan Hirsch by cell in Wilmington (617) 784-4753
Megan Rising (617) 695-2525

# # #

Silent Vigil for Coca-Cola Workers

2007-04-16T12:13:00.000-05:00

With only two months until UIUC's exclusive contract with Coca-Cola expires, it's time to take action. On April 18th, join fellow coalition members outside of Swanlund administration building to remind the Chancellor that UIUC should not do business with Coca-Cola due to the company's human rights violations in Colombia, India, Turkey, and Indonesia.

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Silent Vigil for Coca-Cola Workers
Wednesday, April 18th
12:45-1:15pm
Swanlund Administration Building (504 East John St. at 6th St. in Champaign)

**********************************

If you can't make the action, please call Chancellor Herman at 217-333-6290 to urge him to break the silence and make a public statement that Coca-Cola or any company with human rights violations will not be allowed on campus. It's fast, easy and effective, so please don't hesitate any longer! Here's a sample text:

-Introduce yourself as student/staff/faculty/community member.

-"I am calling to express my concerns over the continued silence of the Chancellor's office concerning the University's plans for any future business relationship with Coca-Cola. The company is responsible for environmental degradation and unsafe products in India, not to mention human and labor rights violations in other parts of the world . I urge the University of Illinois administration to take an ethical stand on this issue and join the campus community that says NO to Coke and any other corporations that put profits over sustainability and safety. I further urge you to make a public statement that Coca-Cola will not be allowed on campus as soon as possible.

-After calling, please email cokeactiongroup@riseup.net to let us know how many calls were made.

Coca-Cola booted from Canadian university

2007-04-09T22:14:00.000-05:00

San Francisco, Apr.9: Students at the University of Guelph in Canada have voted to remove Coca-Cola products from campus because of the company's unethical practices in India and Colombia.

A referendum calling for replacing Coca-Cola products with "an alternate beverage supplier" received 65 percent of the votes last week.Coca-Cola's 10-year contract with the University of Guelph is set to expire in August 2007, and it seems very unlikely that it will be renewed given the student mandate. Click here for more.

Join the UIUC Campaign

2007-04-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

The Coalition Against Coke Contracts meets every Wednesday at at 7:30pm in Room 110, Lincoln Hall. Please attend a meeting or email us at cokeactiongroup@riseup.net to learn more about how to get involved.

Call to Action: Remind the Chancellor--UIUC Doesn't Want Coke!

2007-04-02T11:11:00.000-05:00

On April 4, please call the office of Chancellor Richard Herman (217-333-6290) to remind him that the UIUC community does not want Coke on campus until it 'cleans-up' its act in India. The following short-text might help:

-Introduce yourself as student/staff/faculty/community member.

-"I am calling to express my concerns over the continued silence of the Chancellor's office concerning the University's plans for any future business relationship with Coca-Cola. The company is responsible for environmental degradation and unsafe products in India, not to mention human and labor rights violations in other parts of the world . I urge the University of Illinois administration to take an ethical stand on this issue and join the campus community that says NO to Coke and any other corporations that put profits over sustainability and safety. I further urge you to make a public statement that Coca-Cola will not be allowed on campus as soon as possible.

-After calling, please email cokeactiongroup@riseup.net to let us know how many calls were made.

Useful resources and updates are located at: India Resource Center

Tell Coca-Cola to Stop Worker & Environmental Abuses

2007-04-02T11:03:00.000-05:00

Help blow the whistle on environmental, human rights, and labor rights abuses by Coca-Cola and its largest bottler, CCE! Coke is accused of contaminating water and farmland in India. Coke allegedly allowed death squads in Colombia to murder eight pro-union employees. In the U.S., Coke paid $192 million to settle an employee lawsuit over its widespread racial discrimination. And now Coke’s latest restructuring could destroy good jobs, retirement security, and health care coverage for many Americans. Please sign the petition click here!

Over 40 Detained for Protesting Coca-Cola on World Water Day

2007-03-22T17:53:00.000-05:00

For Immediate Release
March 22, 2007

New Delhi (March 22): Over 40 people protesting Coca-Cola’s operations in India have been detained by police authorities in the capital city of New Delhi, India, today.

More than three hundred people had marched to the government of India offices of the Planning Commission to seek action from the government on water issues on World Water Day.

As of this writing, details of the police actions are still coming in and it is not clear what charges, if any, will be filed.

Protesters were demanding that the Planning Commission (chaired by the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh) take immediate action to curb the severe water shortages being experienced by communities across India as a result of Coca-Cola and Pepsico’s mining of groundwater.

“We are here on World Water Day to bring attention to one of the world’s worst abusers of water, the Coca-Cola company,” said Nandlal Master of Lok Samiti and National Alliance of People’s Movements, one of the organizers of the march and also detained. “The Coca-Cola company has destroyed the lives of thousands of people in India as a result of its thirst for water.” Carrying signs such as “Coca-Cola Pani Chor” – “Coca-Cola Water Thief”, the protesters were indignant that the government of India has not taken actions to ameliorate the bleak water conditions facing thousands of Indians who live around Coca-Cola and Pepsico bottling plants.

Also detained was Medha Patkar, leader of the National Alliance of People’s Movements.

Coca-Cola's operations in India have come under intense scrutiny as many communities are experiencing severe water shortages as well as contaminated groundwater and soil, directly as a result of Coca-Cola's bottling operations. The company has also been found to sell products in India with dangerously high levels of pesticides.

“The world needs to know that the Coca-Cola company has an extremely unsustainable relationship with water, its primary raw material. Drinking Coca-Cola contributes directly to the loss of lives, livelihoods and communities in India. On this World Water Day, we encourage people around the world to think before they drink Coca-Cola,” said Amit Srivastava of the India Resource Center, an international campaigning organization.

Contacts:
Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center +91 98103 46161 E:
info@IndiaResource.org
Rajendra Ravi, National Alliance of People's Movements (Hindi) +91 98682 00316

Coalition Against Coke Contracts Statement to the University of Illinois Board of Trustees

2007-03-16T18:13:00.000-05:00

Remarks made at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Board of Trustees Meeting on March 13, 2007.

Good morning. My name is Costa Nikolaides. I am a senior at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and I am also the president of the student organization the Coalition Against Coke Contracts. I have asked to speak today to inform the Board of Trustees about the concerns of my organization over the egregious record of human and labor rights violations and environmental degradation of the Coca-Cola company around the world. These concerns are relevant for all of us who are associated with UIUC, due to the fact that the only beverages available on the Champaign-Urbana campus are the products of the afore-mentioned corporation, which forces students, faculty and staff to continue to subsidize the violations of this company.

On September 12, 2006 the Coalition Against Coke Contracts, a broad coalition of students, faculty, staff, and community members in Urbana-Champaign, filed a formal complaint and submitted supporting research to bring to the attention of the university administration the available evidence regarding these allegations. In the over three hundred page documentation of Coca-Cola's outrageous record of human and labor rights violations, and environmental degradation, we outlined why the University of Illinois should take a stronger stance on this issue and join its peer institutions in expressing these concerns to the corporation through non-renewal of any further business relationship with the company. To date, the Chancellor's Office has not taken a leadership role by making a public commitment to upholding its business partners to highest standards of human and labor rights, and environmental stewardship.

The administration's continued public silence concerning its future business relations with Coca-Cola is tantamount to complicity with the company's malpractices, which is a matter of grave concerns for the campus community that support this campaign. We have provided documentation of Coca-Cola's unethical practices in Colombia, Turkey, India and Guatemala. For example, our report outlines the inexcusable manner in which the Coca-Cola company's bottling plants in India have depleted the water table in Plachimada, Kerala and indiscriminately discharged polluted waste water into the fields around its plant. We have also submitted overviews and briefs on Coca-Cola's financial support and active collusion with paramilitary groups to destroy Colombian workers' attempts to organize unions. We would be happy to provide this documentation to the members of the Board upon request.

I would like to stress to the Board that this issue requires urgent attention. In the coming month, the State of Illinois will announce its decision to enter into a state-wide exclusive pouring rights contract. The Chancellor's office has already verified in writing that the University can "opt-out" of the state-wide contract , and exercise the right to choose the vendors it would like to do business with. I would like to make the case that any continuing business relationship with Coca-Cola is damaging to the university's image and mission, and hence not in its best interest . By refusing to enter into business relationships with Coca-Cola, the University of Illinois will make sure that it does not condone socially irresponsible corporations. Additionally, such action will reaffirm the University's commitment to human rights and demonstrate that it takes its membership in the Worker's Rights Consortium and Fair Labor Association seriously.

In closing, we urge the Board of Trustees, Chancellor Herman and Associate Chancellor Bill Adams to conclusively state that the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign will not do business with Coca-Cola until the company improves working conditions in factories around the world and addresses the human rights violations and environmental degradation caused by its business and manufacturing practices.

Thank you for your time.
Costa Nikolaides

Students say no to Coca-Cola at Manchester University Students’ Union

2007-03-16T17:39:00.000-05:00

Students say no to Coca-Cola at Manchester University Students’ Union
by Natalie Parkinson
March, 16, 2007

COKE will be in very short supply at University of Manchester Students’ Union (UMSU) after their AGM passed a motion banning it in their shops and bars.

Four hundred votes for the motion to twenty against means students will now be forced to drink another cola at nights out in their students’ union.

Cardiff University students attempted to pass a similar boycott of Coca-Cola last year and attempted to mandate the NUS’S bulk buying arm, to end contracts with Coca Cola. But the motion fell at the annual conference.

However, Manchester’s ban goes much further by resolving “to replace Coke products on sale in all students’ union outlets with Virgin Cola or a suitable alternative”.

The motion at Manchester was proposed as a result of accusations towards the multinational company of violating workers’ human rights and environmental welfare in Columbia, India and Turkey.

The company has also been accused of siphoning water from rivers in India for its factories, causing farmers to struggle without irrigation resources.

The ban comes as campaigners in the UK are trying to remove Coke products from university campuses using the internet to gain support; universities like Oxford, Edinburgh, Bristol, Bradford, Middlesex and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) have already passed motions boycotting or banning the drink.

Union Cites Labor, Human Rights, and Environmental Abuses

2007-03-16T09:11:00.000-05:00

March 16, 2007

(Washington, D.C.) – Teamsters rallied today at NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament games in Chicago; Spokane, Washington and Columbus, Ohio to urge the NCAA to drop key sponsor Coca-Cola. The union cited concerns about Coca-Cola’s destruction of natural resources in developing countries, its worker and human rights abuses in the U.S. and abroad, and the elimination of good-paying U.S. jobs at Coke bottler and distributor Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE).

Throughout the March Madness playoffs, the Teamsters will hand out leaflets informing NCAA fans about Coke’s troubling environmental and human rights record—including Coke’s possible contamination of water and farmland in India, a current lawsuit against the company for allegedly allowing death squads to murder pro-union employees in Colombia, and a record-breaking $192 million Coke paid to settle a case involving widespread racial discrimination.

The NCAA has designated Coca-Cola as the first official NCAA Corporate Champion. Coca-Cola is a key sponsor of the tournament, and is paying the NCAA $500 million in an 11-year beverage marketing and media rights deal reached in 2002.

“The NCAA should stand for what’s best and brightest in college athletics, including fair play, integrity, and sportsmanship,” said Jack Cipriani, Director of the Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference. “Coke’s record sure doesn’t match those high ethical standards. A company that pollutes, discriminates, destroys good American jobs and may have played a role in the murder of workers is not a company that kids should be looking to as a role model. NCAA Tournament fans deserve to know the truth about a key sponsor of the games”

Here in the United States CCE, Coca-Cola’s largest bottler, plans to eliminate and restructure thousands of middle-class jobs in the U.S. under a new business model. Coke and CCE are engaged in a concerted campaign to destroy job security, pension benefits and health care coverage for the workers and their families. In February, CCE announced plans for job cuts during an investors’ telephone conference call despite Coke executives portraying their economic outlook as “solid.”

“For us, our members come first,” Cipriani said. “But, with Coca-Cola and CCE, workers get the short end of the stick. All this while the current CEO of Coca-Cola was given a 2006 salary, bonus, incentives and perks in excess of $20 million. And the former CEO of CCE was awarded $10 million in cash, stock and other perks in his lavish severance compensation package. The NCAA truly tarnished its image of a fair player when it teamed up with Coca-Cola.”

The Teamsters Union represents more than 14,000 Coca-Cola and CCE employees in the United States and Canada.

Indian Government Admits, Colas Do Have Pesticides

2007-03-15T17:43:00.000-05:00

March 15 from CNN-IBN

New Delhi: The Health Ministry on Wednesday submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court admitting that there are pesticide residues in cold drinks.

The N K Ganguly Committee, set up to study the issue of pesticide content in colas, suggested that a committee be set up to look into the issue of food safety.

The Health Ministry also told the apex court that the Committee had suggested that there are certain pesticides, which have to be monitored for a period for three years After the Health Ministry came out with that affidavit, Coca-Cola India has come out with an official statement.

In its press release, the company says, "Our products are safe and the analysis of the products for the pesticide residue is available on our website. We have always supported the setting up of standards on pesticide residue in soft drinks and welcome the move in that direction."

The Ganguly Committee was set up after Delhi-based NGO Centre for Science and Environment revealed that new tests have detected dangerous level of toxins in colas.

A similar CSE report in 2003 had led to a joint Parliamentary probe into the matter. Four years later, the NGO again went public with the findings of its studies, claiming that soft drinks were still not clean.

It claimed that compared to 2003, Pepsi contained 30 times higher pesticide residue on an average and Coca-Cola contained 27 times higher residue.

The NGO claimed that it found three to five different kinds of pesticide residues in all the 57 samples of 11 soft drink brands that it had collected from 25 different manufacturing plants of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, spread over 12 states.

The Cola Wars

2007-03-10T17:37:00.000-06:00

By David Canfield
Metroland, Read Newspaper
SUNY Albany
March 10, 2007

Citing human-rights abuses, student and labor groups unite in an attempt to remove Coca-Cola products from UAlbany

"In Colombia, you could get killed for organizing a union," said Manuel Ortiz. "[Colombia has] the highest rate of assassinations and murders of trade unionists anywhere in the world. Coca-Cola knows what's going on, and they're just trying to ignore the situation."

Ortiz is a member of the local chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, which joined forces last Thursday (March 1) with local student and labor groups to support Killer Coke, a campaign led by longtime labor organizer Ray Rogers. Killer Coke alledges that Coca-Cola has has turned a blind eye to the brutal crackdown by paramilitary forces on union organizing efforts at their bottling plants in Colombia. The campaign aims to remove Coca-Cola products from college campuses by making students aware of the company's neglect for human rights abroad.

Locally, they are focusing on the University at Albany, which has an exclusive contract with Coca-Cola to sell Coke, Sprite, Vault, Fanta, Nestea, Minute Maid juices, and Dasani water.

The event was sponsored by University Auxiliary Services, which has the contract with Coca-Cola and handles various other UAlbany student services. UAS executive director Julia Filippone said that they want to present a variety of viewpoints in keeping with the university's goal of being a "marketplace of ideas," and that is why Rogers was brought in. "We encourage students to be responsible about their information," she said.

When he was first approached about Coca-Cola's record, Rogers said that the accusations seemed to be "off the wall," but after investigating and uncovering numerous cases where employees of Coca-Cola bottling companies had been murdered by paramilitary forces for trying to unionize, Rogers' organization, Corporate Campaign Inc., adopted the cause.

"We made a commitment that we would get involved," he said. "We're going to put a stop to what's happening in Colombia."

Rogers said that the campaign has gotten Coke products removed from 34 schools—most in the United States, but some in England, Ireland, Canada, and Italy, including some large universities like New York University and Rutgers.

The student groups have set an arbitrary deadline of March 27 for UAlbany to sever their contract with Coke, which expires in 2008. Jackie Hayes, a UAlbany doctoral student interning with the Killer Coke campaign, said that the students plan to make phone calls to university officials, protest outside administration buildings, and finally deliver to the administration, "preferably in a wheelbarrow," all the evidence of Coke's abuses.

The students groups said that it would be ideal for the university to deal with multiple companies instead of one exclusive contract. Hayes said that supporting local businesses would be a good choice. "It's a lot easier, I think, to hold local companies accountable, because it's really difficult when you find out a company like Coca-Cola is committing these human-rights and environmental abuses—they're impenetrable," she said. "They put a lot of money between themselves and their customers, and so there's really no way to hold them accountable for anything that they're doing."

"I don't know if [local companies] can meet our needs," said Filippone, needs that include 200 vending machines, more than 50 fountain mixes, and sales of 1.5 million bottles per year. But she said that, while bidding on the contract has yet to begin, bids will be accepted from any party and that local companies are not out of the question.

The Killer Coke press conference and panel discussion Thursday drew a crowd of about 35. Hayes said that a lot of students aren't even aware of the fact that UAlbany has an exclusive contract with Coke, let alone that the company has a poor human-rights record. "I think a lot of it is that people haven't heard what's going on," Hayes said, "because Coca-Cola does a really good job at fighting that getting out and puts so much money into public relations."

Ray Rogers agreed. "You have to understand that Coca-Cola is a company that spends billions of dollars a year—about 3 billion dollars a year, actually—in advertising to create an image or a reality that has nothing to do with the ugly reality that is the company."

That reality, according to Rogers, is the kidnapping, torture, and murder of union organizers by paramilitary forces. Rogers detailed the accusations during the panel, describing environmental abuses as well. He said that he would like to debate Coca-Cola representatives directly, but that they will not debate him. By the end, his lecture took on a decidedly anti-corporate tone, and Rogers suggested that perhaps they could take on ExxonMobil next.

FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The Campaign to Stop Killer Coke is making this article available in our efforts to advance the understanding of corporate accountability, human rights, labor rights, social and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Fresno City College students win a motion to end Killer Coke’s exclusive vending monopoly

2007-03-06T17:31:00.001-06:00

Posted March 6th, 2007 by cdfierro

About 60 students showed up for the Board hearing. The march started at the free speech area and progressed to the district offices at Blackstone & Weldon. Two Fresno City Police Officers were on hand, the board drinking Dasani water with a long list of business for the board to take up. Everyone bunkered down in the hot cramped room, signs in hand that read such things as “Stop Killer Coke,” and “Killer Coke Off Our Campus”

The board members eyes rarely looked up from their agendas. Did this foreshadow the outcome? In fact, during the march to the district offices, several students expressed their muted excitement: “We already know the outcome.” I was also told, “They [the district board] are going to make some symbolic statement, but say they can’t support the students officially.”

When the time finally came for the board to take up the issue of vendor pouring rights, there was noticeable tension in the room. Most of the students present had worked months (or longer) on the campaign. First to speak was Jerry Bill, sociology professor at Fresno City College. Bill’s remarks were brief. He commented on a question asked at the previous board meeting, in which a board member asked, “If the students are concerned about the issue, where are the students?” Motioning with his hand, Bill said, “Here they are.” Bill went on to say, “It is a matter of conscience for the students and the board as well…. The students deserve the right to choose not to drink a beverage that conflicts with their consciences.” Rosanna Spicer, one of the student organizers, followed Jerry Bill to the podium. Spicer held up a petition with 434 signatures of Fresno City College students who wanted Coke’s exclusive rights revoked. Rosanna said, “they [vendors with contracts with the districts] are supposed to serve us; we’re not supposed to serve them.” One of the fears of the district was the loss of monies that might occur if the contract ended. Roseanna responded to these fears by telling the board that the campaign had spoken to other vendors and that they were willing to contract with the district. As Rosanna said, “ other schools have done this and they are still here.”

Nicholas Clark, another student organizer, then walked to the podium. He passionately asked that the board listen to the students on campus, just as the campaign had listened to the students after their initial campaign of having Coke banned on campus failed. The students on campus were in favor of allowing the students a choice of beverages, rather then banning any one beverage from campus. Clark asked the board to do the same.

After Clark finished, an administration official stated that the administration, after looking over the information provided by the campaign and reexamining the issue at the behest of the board, decided that the exclusive pouring rights of Coke should be maintained. The administration official said that their findings supported their decision.

What followed took everyone by surprise. First to speak from the board was board member Dorothy Smith. In a very brief statement, she said, “I support the students’ right to choose.” Board member William J. Smith likewise made his statement brief. “We are here to serve the students…. If it doesn’t hurt us…I don’t see why we can’t honor them.” Board member Phillip J. Forhan continued the sentiment, “I support the students’ choice. I would like to make a motion to support that….To remove the monopoly.” And before Isabel Barrenas, the chair, could ask for a second, student government member Kate Blanco said that in poll conducted on campus over 1000 students supported lifting the exclusive rights; only 26 opposed.

When procedure was reestablished, board member Patrick E. Patterson asked for clarification on the motion, a motion that was pretty straightforward. Forhen clarified that the motion was to “Remove the monopoly….Campuses can choose whatever vender they want, but our decision shouldn’t preclude the students choices for ethical considerations.”

The scene that was surreal for most of the students there, as they never imagined that they might win, became all the more surreal when the questions and comments from Patrick E. Patterson seemed to be dialogue from the robber baron days. Patterson asked Forhan in disbelief, “What you’re saying is that you want to get rid of the monopoly?” Forhan reiterated his earlier motion. Patterson continued in his disbelief, “I want to know what everyone has to say…there hasn’t been a school wide vote…the faculty senate hasn’t voted.” And in a classic red herring, Patterson made the impassioned case for banning all soft drinks on campus because of their sugar content. “This is want we should be worried about, not this [the issue of Coke having exclusive rights].”

Last to speak was the Reedley student government representative, Edward Rea. Rea stated that Reedley students want an exclusive contract. Rea went on to say, “I’m looking at it as a business decision.” Being that Reedley is a smaller campus, the amount of monies lost from the contract would be a larger percentage. Rea then went on to try to lecture the Fresno City student saying, “You say you don’t drink any Coke products? Do you know that Coke makes other products other than Coke? Do you drink any of those?” The respective answers from the students were “Yes!,” “Yes!” and “No!”

After that little exchange the board asked for a roll call and vote. Yea…yea…yea…no…no…yea…yea. With that, board chair Isabel Barrenas said “Motion passed.”
Rosanna Spincer, who happened to be standing in front of me, looked extremely confused. She asked the administration representative, who spoke earlier in favor of the exclusive contract, “what happened?” “The motion passed,” he replied. Still, Rosanna seemed unsure, that was until one of the other student hugged her saying “We did it, I can’t believe it, we won!” A quick thank you to the board, which I don’t think they could hear or see, what with the students clapping and filing out of the board room, and the board continued with their business.

The student campaigners congregated outside for a while, excited and still a little unsure as to what had just taken place. Some were talking on cell phones, telling someone on the other end, “We won…no really we won…yeah, we won.” Expecting to lose, they left with unexpected smiles and hope.

Swarthmore College Removes Coca-Cola Products From Campus

2006-11-28T15:29:00.000-06:00

Swarthmore College Removes Coca-Cola Products From Campus
College Calls on Company to Allow Investigation of Violence Allegations

For Immediate Release
November 28, 2006

SWARTHMORE, Pa., Nov. 28 -- Swarthmore College will cease purchasing Coca-Cola products by the end of the year and again calls on the company to permit an independent investigation into allegations of complicity in anti-union violence in Colombia and water use in India. The action, prompted by the urgings of student leaders, follows a series of letters to Coca-Cola by the Swarthmore administration expressing concern about its alleged human rights abuses.

"We plan to dialogue with Coca-Cola in an effort to continue to pressure them to reform their labor and environmental rights practices," says Ruth Schultz '09, a history major from Minneapolis, Minn., and a leader in the campus "Kick Coke" campaign. "In the coming months, we will establish a set of criteria which must be met in order for the College to consider future purchasing from Coca-Cola."

Last semester, Swarthmore removed Coca-Cola products served at the College's snack bar and two coffee bars, including Coke, Diet Coke, and a variety of other soft drinks, juices, and water. This new action concerns the "fountain" Coke products served through company-supplied dispensers at the College's snack bar and Sharples Dining Hall.

Through their "Kick Coke" campaign, Swarthmore student activists have used petitions, a letter-writing campaign, and a Student Council resolution to urge the College administration to remove Coca-Cola products and to pressure the company to act on the abuse allegations.

"Many students see this action as a stand against human rights abuses and as a means of encouraging Coke to make significant and much-needed changes in its practices," says fellow student "Kick Coke" activist Zoe Bridges-Curry '09. "Because the campaign centers around the institution's contract with Coke, and is not limited to the purchasing choices of individuals, the College's action sends a very strong message to the Coca-Cola Company. As a consumer of Coke, Swarthmore can use its influence as a prestigious and socially responsible institution to help effect positive change in the corporation's practices."

"The Coca Cola Corporation has played a major leadership role in the realm of international corporate responsibility and can surely also lead the way by taking even more definitive socially responsible steps," says Swarthmore College Vice President Maurice Eldridge '61. "We hope to continue dialogue with Coke to establish guidelines that would lead to our being able to welcome the products back to campus."

Swarthmore joins several other colleges and universities that have taken action related to Coca-Cola and the alleged abuses. Among those institutions are the University of Michigan and New York University.

The action related to Coca-Cola is one of several recent student initiatives that exemplify Swarthmore's mission to combine academic rigor with social responsibility. In 2004, the College's Committee on Investor Responsibility, which includes student members, successfully petitioned two Fortune 500 companies to broaden their equal opportunity policies to bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. That development mirrored the committee's successful action in 2003 with Lockheed Martin, which agreed to add sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policies after the College filed a shareholder resolution - the first in the country solely initiated by a college or university since the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s.

Also in 2004, students formed what is now the Genocide Intervention Network in an effort to help stop the humanitarian disaster in Darfur. In what was hailed as a victory for free speech, two students that semester won a lawsuit against Diebold, Inc., to halt the company's efforts to shut down any website that hosted or linked to documents detailing problems with the company's electronic voting machines.

In addition, students last year launched an Internet-based radio program on the war in Iraq - War News Radio - which has grown into an acclaimed weekly program syndicated to a growing number of radio stations around the country.

Located near Philadelphia, Swarthmore is a highly selective liberal arts college whose mission combines academic rigor with social responsibility. Swarthmore, with an enrollment of 1,450, is consistently ranked among the top liberal arts colleges in the country.

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CONTACT: Alisa Giardinelli, Swarthmore Media Relations, 610-690-5717, agiardi1@swarthmore.edu http://www.swarthmore.edu
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For India related campaign inquiries, contact India Resource Center at 415-336-7584, info@IndiaResource.org www.IndiaResource.org

Soda Tasting event this Sunday!

2006-11-03T12:58:00.000-06:00

Coalition Against Coke Contracts invites everyone to another alternative soda tasting party. Come and sample beverages tastes and flavors that don’t have lingering traces of pesticides or labor abuse.

WHEN:Sunday, November 5 - 8-10 pm

WHERE:Channing Murray Foundation, 1209 W Oregon, Urbana (corner of Matthews &
Oregon)

WHAT:
* Taste from a range of drinks, cast your vote and inform the university
about the drink of your choice.
* Have fun, and learn about the campaign to kick Coca-Cola out of UIUC!
* Swing with musical tunes of Paul Kotheimer, and Oberon and the Possum King.
* Learn more about important referendum on the November 7 ballot.

This event has been organized by Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort (AWARE), a member of Coalition Against Coke Contracts, as a benefit for their referendum efforts for the November 7th elections. Donations are suggested.

October 12: Street Theatre and Alternative Beverages

2006-10-15T13:54:00.000-05:00

The Coalition Against Coke Contracts and the School for Designing a Society (one of our coalition partners) held an alternative beverage tasting and performance of "a mad coksi tea party" on the UIUC quad this past Thursday. We served over 150 cups of local, fairly produced sodas while enjoying the play and songs. It was such a sucess, we're looking forward to next spring when it's warm enough again for such outside events. Enjoy the pictures!

Swing to the tunes of non-corporate drinks : Alternative Soda Tasting on Quad!(10/12)

2006-10-07T08:19:00.000-05:00

Swing to the tunes of non-corporate drinks
Alternative Soda Tasting
Oct. 12, 2006
Quad

October 12, 2006 marks the national of day of action in response to a call by Colombian Solidarity Action Network.

Find a taste of life beyond Coca-Cola. Coalition Against Coke Contracts (CACC) and School for Designing a Society (SDAS) invite everyone to attend the Alternative Soda Tasting on the Quad, Thursday, October 12. We’ll be enjoying the tastes and flavors that don’t have lingering traces of pesticides or labor abuse. Cast your vote and inform the university about the drink of your choice! Have fun, and learn about the campaign to kick Coca-Cola out!

WHERE: South Patio of Illini Union
WHEN: Thursday October 12, 2006 at Noon

Major Protest Against Coca-Cola in India

2006-10-05T08:46:00.000-05:00

New Delhi (October 4, 2006): Over a thousand villagers protested at Coca-Cola's north India headquarters in Gurgaon today, demanding that the company take immediate actions to clean up its act in India or leave India. Read more about the protests here

Open Letter to Chancellor Herman: No More Coca-Cola.

2006-10-01T12:59:00.000-05:00

Dear Chancellor Richard Herman,

We write to you with serious concerns over the exclusive beverage contract between University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Coca-Cola Company. In recent years, a number of universities have played a key role in improving working conditions in factories around the world that assemble/produce the merchandise for universities. University of Illinois, however, continues to do business with Coca-Cola despite the company's outrageous record of human and labor rights violations, and environmental degradation. Coca-Cola's abuses in Colombia, India, Turkey, Indonesia and Guatemala are of direct concern to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in lieu of its exclusive contract with Coca-Cola, athletic sponsorships, and U of I Foundation ownership of Coca-Cola stock.
Coalition Against Coke Contracts (CACC) is a broad coalition of students, faculty, staff and community members in Urbana-Champaign. We form a significant consumer base, and are very disturbed by the university's inaction over Coca-Cola's malpractices. In the past year, we have attempted to bring our concerns to the attention of Licensing Advisory Committee.

We hold that an association with Coca-Cola is tantamount to complicity in its malpractices, and it would go against the very principles that institutions of higher learning are expected to uphold. We therefore urge the university NOT to renew the contract with Coca-Cola. We urge you to make the decision of non-renewal as soon as
possible.

Sincerely,
Coalition Against Coke Contracts (CACC)

September 12 Rally: Video

2006-09-17T22:49:00.000-05:00

September 12 Rally: Pictures

2006-09-13T21:54:00.000-05:00

Rally on September 12: Coke Out of UIUC!

2006-09-12T10:16:00.000-05:00

Coalition Against Coke Contracts (CACC) invites everyone to participate in a rally on the Quad on Tuesday, September 12. Bring a friend, wear your Rad TShirt, and tell the university to kick Coca-Cola out!

WHAT: Open rally to protest the University's contract with Coke.
WHEN: September 12, 2006. Noon.
WHERE: South Patio (of the Illini Union), The Quad.
Featured Speaker: Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center.

An interview (audio) with Amit Srivastava from Oct 2005.

Quad Day Photos II

2006-08-30T19:37:00.000-05:00

Quad day Photos[I]

2006-08-24T08:40:00.000-05:00

First Day of School Action!: Call Office of the Chancellor

2006-08-21T10:17:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday [August 23, 2006], please call the office of Chancellor Richard Herman (217-333-6290) to express your concerns about the current exclusive contracts between University of Illinois and Coca-Cola. Most likely, you will be asked to leave a message. The following short-text might help:

•Introduce yourself as student/staff/faculty/community member.
•" I am calling to express my concerns over university's exclusive beverage contracts with Coca-Cola. Coke is responsible for a number of human rights and labor violations, and environmental degradation. University of Illinois should NOT do business with a corporation that puts profits over human rights. Please DO NOT renew the contract with Coca-Cola"

Please email us at[cokeactiongroup@riseup.net] after you make a call.

Thank you for your support!

Talking Points

1.Why do we want Coke off campus?

•Murders and Human Rights Abuses in Colombia: Since 1989, 8 union leaders from Coca-Cola bottling plants have been murdered by paramilitary forces in association with Coke plant managers. Dozens of other workers have been intimidated, kidnapped or tortured. There is clear evidence that managers of several plants have ordered assaults to occur and made regular payments to leaders of the paramilitary groups. Union-busting has greatly benefited Coke and increased their profits. A court case filed in 2001 in Miami against Coca-Cola regarding these issues remains unsettled while investigations by Hiram Monserrate (2004) and Lesley Gil (2004) prove allegations are legitimate.

•Environmental Devastation in India: A pattern of abuse has emerged for Coca-Cola's bottling operations in India. Coca-Cola is guilty of:
1.Polluting ground water and soil around its bottling facilities
2.Distributing its toxic waste as "fertilizer" to farmers. The waste contains dangerous concentrations of cadmium and lead.
3.Selling drinks with high levels of pesticides —sometimes 30 times higher than EU standards.
4. Extracting millions of litres of ground water and causing severe water shortages in various parts of India
In a recent independent investigation the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) found dangerous levels of pesticide in all brands of Coke manufactured in India.

•Union Busting and Beatings in Turkey and Indonesia: Upon attempting to unionize, the workers in Coca-Cola bottling plants in Indonesia and Turkey were fired en masse

2. The contract is up for renewal in 2007, what is the purpose of calling this early?

It is never too soon to decide NOT to renew the contract. The University should make the decision of non-renewal of contract with Coca-Cola as soon as possible and explore other options of beverage contracts.

3. Isn't this a matter of courts/independent investigation?

The recent investigation conducted by Center for Science and Environment (CSE) is independent and on the grounds of their report, the Government of India is considering total ban on Coca-Cola altogether. Seven states in India have already banned Coke. Several campuses in the United States have decided not to do business with Coca-Cola because of the company’s egregious records.

In the past, universities have never waited for a court decision to express their concern about the practices of their business partners or licensees. University codes of conduct grant them the authority to evaluate their licensees' compliance.

Coca-Cola banned at British university

2006-08-19T11:18:00.000-05:00

SUSSEX, England, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- Britain's University of Sussex has
banned all Coca-Cola products from its student union to protest the
company's alleged business practices.

Other British campuses are expected to follow suit amid calls for a
nationwide student boycott against the soft drink giant, the
Independent reported Saturday.

U.K. Students Against Coca-Cola has been pressuring the purchasing
consortium that provides food and drink to British campuses to cancel
its four multimillion-dollar contracts with Coke, the newspaper said.

For complete story, click here

Jubilation in Plachimada!

2006-08-09T23:59:00.000-05:00

From: The Hindu, August 10, 2006

PALAKKAD: There is jubilation in Plachimada and Kanjikode in Palakkad district over the decision of the State Government to ban the production and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola after the soft drinks have been ``found injurious to health.''

The two places have been in the news for quite some time in the wake of agitations by local people demanding the closure of the plants of the soft drink majors there.

The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) took out a march to the Coca-Cola unit at Plachimada on Wednesday hailing the decision.

The Solidarity Youth Movement took out a march through the streets of Palakkad and held a public meeting at the town bus stand. Leaders of the Plachimada Solidarity Committee spoke at the meeting.

Read the complete report Here

Kerala Throws Out Coca-Cola and Pepsi

2006-08-09T12:57:00.000-05:00

Seven Other States Impose Ban, Others Expected to Follow

For Immediate Release
August 9, 2006

Trivandrum, India (August 9, 2006): The state government of Kerala in south India has banned the production and sale of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the state. The companies will be asked to close their operations entirely.

Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan stated today that the ban was being imposed because of the health hazards posed by Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

"We have arrived at the decision to ask both Coke and Pepsi to stop production and distribution of all their products, based on scientific studies which have proved that they are harmful," said Mr. Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan.

Chief Minister Achuthanandan also pointed to the four year campaign by the community of Plachimada in Kerala where the community has protested falling water levels and pollution of the groundwater and soil - directly as a result of the Coca-Cola company's bottling operations in the area.

Read the complete report here:

Coca-Cola busted in India

2006-08-06T13:36:00.000-05:00

In a comprehensive study covering 12 states, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has found dangerous levels of pesticides in all samples of soft drinks. For more information, visit http://www.cseindia.org/misc/cola-indepth/cola2006/cola-index.htm

Boycott Coca-Cola!

2006-08-03T23:55:00.000-05:00

August 3 protests in Mehandiganj, India

2006-08-03T15:14:00.000-05:00

Dangerous Pesticides in Coca-Cola and Pepsi in India

2006-08-03T13:19:00.000-05:00

For Immediate Release
August 3, 2006

San Francisco (August 3, 2006): Coca-Cola and Pepsico carbonated drinks in India contain dangerously high levels of pesticides, according to a new study released yesterday by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a leading public interest research and advocacy group in India.

CSE tested 57 samples of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo carbonated products from 25 different bottling plants across 12 states and found pesticide residues in all samples.

The study found a "cocktail of between three to five different pesticides in all samples" - and on an average, the pesticide residues were 24 times higher than European Union (EU) standards and those proposed by the Bureau of India Standards (BIS), the government body responsible for standardization and quality control.

The study found high levels of:

* Lindane - a confirmed carcinogen - sometimes as high as 140 times those allowed by EU and BIS standards
* Chlorpyrifos - a neurotoxin - sometimes as high as 200 times those allowed by EU and BIS standards
* Heptachlor - which is banned in India and also has not been used in the US since 1988 - was found in 71 per cent of the samples, at levels 4 times higher than the proposed BIS standards.
* Malathion - a pesticide that the US EPA recommends that workers wait at least 12 hours before entering the area of application - were found in 38.6% of the samples tested.

"This is a grave public health scandal," said Sunita Narain, director of the Centre for Science and Environment and winner of the prestigious 2005 Stockholm Water Prize.

The latest study comes three years after CSE had found similar levels of pesticides in Coca-Cola and Pepsico products. One of the highest ranking bodies possible to be set up in India, the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), was convened to look into the issue of dangerous levels of pesticides in soft drinks. In February 2004, the JPC confirmed the unsafe levels of pesticides in soft drinks, and recommended that the government set standards for these residues in the products. Since then, a committee from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has convened over 20 meetings to deliberate on the standards, and Coca-Cola, Pepsico, consumer and environmental organizations have all been consulted.

In October 2005, the standards were finalized by the committee, and in March 2006, the committee met again to reconfirm the standards. The BIS has adopted the same standards as the European Union - which stipulates a single residue limit of 0.0001 parts per million and multiple residue limit of 0.0005 parts per million. The proposed standards, however, have been delayed from being implemented, ostensibly to do more research.

The Centre for Science and Environment sees it differently. "Our reason is simple: if soft drinks contain a cocktail of pesticides above stipulated standard, they are unsafe. The companies say there are no stipulated standards. The reason is simple: they don't allow standards to be formulated. The standards that needed to be set to regulate their safety have been lost in committees or blocked by powerful interests in the government. The soft drink companies and their industry associations had fought tooth and nail against setting up a final product standard," said CSE in a prepared statement.

The Centre for Science and Environment is demanding that the government implement the standards immediately and make the standards mandatory for the soft drink companies.

Coca-Cola and Pepsico together control about 90% of the carbonated beverage market in India.

The Coca-Cola company is also the target of community campaigns across India accusing the company of creating severe water shortages and pollution around its bottling plants. A number of studies, including those by the government of India, have confirmed the growing water shortages and pollution of groundwater and soil by the Coca-Cola company. One of Coca-Cola's largest bottling plants in India, in Plachimada in Kerala, has remained shut down since March 2004 because of community opposition and government action.

There is also a growing campaign internationally that is applying pressure on the Coca-Cola company to end its abuses in India. More than ten colleges and universities in the US and UK have taken action against the Coca-Cola company. The company was also recently ejected from the US$ 8 billion TIAA-CREF Social Choice Account because of the international campaign. TIAA-CREF is one of the largest financial services companies in the United States, with over US$ 380 billion in assets.

"This is a classic case of double standards by a large multinational company in India. They are selling sub-standard products in India that could never be sold in Europe," said Amit Srivastava if the India Resource Center, an international campaigning organization. "It is Coca-Cola and Pepsico's responsibility to deliver a safe product in India, and they have failed to do so even after being informed that their products were toxic three years ago."

The report by the Centre for Science and Environment can be seen at www.cseindia.org

For more information on the campaign to hold Coca-Cola accountable, visit www.IndiaResource.org

Coca-Cola Suffers Big Blow in Investment Community

2006-07-18T12:47:00.000-05:00

KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. of Boston, Mass., a world leader in defining corporate responsibility standards, has removed The Coca-Cola Company from its Broad Market Social Index (BMSI). The BMSI consists of all companies within the Russell 3000 that pass KLD’s screening criteria.

This means that large institutional investors like Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association – College Retirement Equity Fund (TIAA-CREF), the nation’s largest pension fund, will ban Coca-Cola from its CREF Choice Account, the world’s largest socially screened fund for individual investors with $7.9 billion in assets and more than 200,000 investors.

“Such action by KLD is a very serious matter for any company, but especially for one like Coca-Cola that spends billions of dollars promoting itself as socially responsible which it is not,” said Ray Rogers, director of the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke (www.KillerCoke.org). Because of Coke’s widespread labor, human rights and environmental abuses and fraudulent business practices, the company has, like big tobacco, become a pariah to those concerned with socially responsible investing,” added Rogers.

At the end of December, the CREF Social Choice Account held 1,250,500 shares of Coca-Cola common stock valued at more than $50 million.

KLD applies a two-step research process to determine the BMSI. First, companies involved in alcohol, tobacco, firearms, gambling, nuclear power and military contracting are excluded from consideration. KLD also evaluates companies’ records in qualitative areas such as community relations, workforce diversity, employee relations, environment, non-U.S. operations, and product safety and use.

Change of Location: CACC Meeting (07/10)

2006-07-07T02:12:00.001-05:00

Please note that the location for CACC summer informational meeting has been changed. We will meet at Espresso Royale (602 E. Daniel Street,Champaign).

Please consider attending and forward this message widely.

Here are the details:

CACC Summer Informational Meeting
WHEN: Monday, July 10 at 6:30pm
WHERE: Espresso Royale [602 E. Daniel St., Champaign]

Indefinite Hunger Strike Against Coke In Mehadiganj, India

2006-07-03T15:34:00.000-05:00

Don't miss the Summer Informational Meeting!

2006-06-27T14:38:00.001-05:00

Dear supporters,

Coalition Against Coke Contracts (CACC) would like to thank
you for supporting the local campaign against Coca-Cola at
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We had an exciting
spring semester, with more than 20 campus and community groups
joining the coalition! CACC continues to grow everyday with
increasing support from faculty, staff, students and community.

GET INVOLVED!

Interested in knowing what CACC is doing over summer?

Interested in helping out with the local campaign against Coke
in Fall?

Want to have more details about why UIUC should cut its
exclusive contract with Coke?

GET INVOLVED!!!

Attend the summer informational meeting on July 10th at 6:30
pm at Bar Giuliani (Previously known as Green Street Cafe [608
E. Green St. Champaign])

Are Coke’s Spinning Wheels Coming Off?

2006-05-27T12:01:00.000-05:00

Coca Cola spends about 70% of its profits on media, image building and publicity. And yet, at the share holders’ meeting in Delaware, under pressure from a large number of global communities for its unethical practices, its wheels seemed to be coming off.

Coke was expecting flak for its role in Plachimada where reports by BBC and state environmental board has shown high amounts of heavy metals in effluents dumped in fields of local farmers and in the groundwater. It showed two clips – one saying the Coke’s rainwater harvesting programs have caused lush green agricultural conditions in the area and that they have provided employment in an area of high unemployment.

In fact, Coke has aggressively presented itself as the savior of water. And yet, it had no answer when presented with facts. Kiran, from AID pointed out that Coke’s claim to conserve water is completely unjustified. A single bottling plant in Mehdiganj – another site of protests in India – withdraws over 180 million liters of water annually – as per numbers presented by Coke. On the other hand, its rain water harvesting programs recharge only 10 million liters – again as per Coke numbers. So what kind of conservation is this?

Coke has had no comments. For one, it was not prepared for Mehdiganj. Second, an employee of Coke – apparently a scientist – tried to wiggle out with a fatuous comment that water cannot be created nor destroyed and that there was no water shortage in the area. This at a time when the local government in Mehdiganj and other blocks in the neighborhood has already announced water levels to be critical and has banned withdrawal of water from larger bore wells. And yet, Coke – with the largest borewells in the area – continues to withdraw millions.

It has had no comment to charges of corruption and of illegal occupation of land – charges upheld by local Indian courts. The best it would do is say that Coke products are a choice to consumers. That people around these plants are very happy with Coke. That Coke also gives scholarships to students to student in Atlanta. Non Sequitur anyone?

About a dozen people spoke about the unethical practices of Coke with respect to water, to wages, to labor rights – and for most part, the spin machine chose to ignore it or respond with inane statements.

And yet, the pressure on Coke seems to be growing. Coke sent an 8 member team to UCLA to respond to student groups demanding the UCLA’s contract with Coke be cancelled in light of its unethical practices. During the discussion, a number of questions including copies of court orders regarding Coke’s corrupt practices in India, its illegal occupation of land as well as high heavy metals in its effluents were presented. However, the Coke team seemed not ready for these and pleaded to come back once more. With 8 more people perhaps?

In India, the indefinite strike continues in Mehdiganj. More filmmakers from Europe – this time from Sweden – visited to document the continued ethical malfunctioning of Coke. The campaign is now planning to organize a one-day program including Rajender Singh – another Magsasay winner and water conservationist. Besides Rajender Singh, other local civic society leaders have kept their visits in solidarity with the campaign. But perhaps, the biggest strength of the campaign has been the local farmers, who continue to keep on the strike despite their own crops being affected by bad weather.

At the same time, Plachimada marked its 4th anniversary of the struggle with a gathering. In the weeks leading to the anniversary, the local union of bank employees presented a check to the movement and promised their solidarity with the people of Plachimada in their demand for justice from Coke’s activities.

With the state legislative elections approaching, events marking the 4th anniversary were smaller. Prof. M. N. Vijayan, a well known social activist and philosopher, inaugurated the functions in front of the gate to Hindustan CocaCola Bottling Company.

A press release from the Plachimada resistance pointed out that
The struggle has achieved much with Coca Cola unable to function since March 2004. The bottling plant has been unable to open because the local village council is refusing to reissue a license to operate. The village council has maintained that the plant needs to shut down because it has destroyed the water system in the area as well as polluted the area. Coca cola is guilty of destroying the lives and livelihoods of the tribal community of the Plachimada. Now, the matter is under judicial review of Supreme Court of India.

But, in a significant move, the state government of Kerala has joined the community in its struggle by appealing Coca Cola’s right to extract water to the Supreme Court of India in September 2005. The Kerala State Pollution Control Board has also issued a stop order notice to the plant because of pollution. All these are mile stones in our struggle. But the goal has not been yet achieved. It will be, when compensation for the victims who are affected is given, when the Coca Cola quits and ends its legal battle with us…

And yet, Coca Cola continues its history of spinning its public relations wheels – hoping somehow that its gigantic media presence will keeps its profits flowing in. However, with more and more communities joining in presenting their concerns against the operations of Coke – universities in the USA, in Europe, communities in Germany, increasing number of communities in India, Colombia – perhaps Coca Cola needs to understand that it might have to change its unethical practices where it continues to earn profits by dumping its dumping its externalities on local communities.
(from: http://www.thesouthasian.org/archives/000627.html)

Talk by Daniel Kovalik: COKE, COLOMBIA, AND HUMAN RIGHTS (Updated)

2006-04-26T23:45:00.000-05:00

Coalition Against Coke Contracts (CACC) presents

“COKE, COLOMBIA, AND HUMAN RIGHTS"
A public talk by Daniel Kovalik

WHEN: THURSDAY, April 27th at 7:00 pm
WHERE: 180 Bevier Hall, 905 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana
(Northwest corner of Goodwin and Gregory)

Free and open to the public

About Daniel Kovalik:
Daniel Kovalik graduated from the Columbia University School of Law in 1993 and joined the United Steelworkers of America as Assistant General Counsel. During his time there, he has been the co-chief counsel in Alien Tort Claims Act cases against Coca-Cola and Drummond, and has been the Associate Editor of "Developing Labor Law." He is also the recipient of the David W. Mills Mentoring Fellowship in 2002 and the Project Censored Award for 3rd Most Significant Censored Story of 2001.

A few of his publications are available online.

Update: Here is a link to streaming audio of his talk.

April 27th Meeting Cancelled

2006-04-26T23:39:00.000-05:00

The meeting for Thursday, April 27th has been cancelled.
There will be no meetings this semester. If you would like to get involved in the campaign, please contact us at cokeactiongroup@riseup.net
In solidarity,
CACC

Recent Articles

2006-04-25T11:44:00.000-05:00

The Case Against Coke

By Michael Blanding
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060501/blanding

Water as Commodity and Weapon:
The Corporate Hijack of India's Water

By P. Sainath
http://www.counterpunch.org/sainath04122006.html

Next CACC meeting after spring break!

2006-03-23T00:26:00.000-06:00

Greetings,
The meeting on March 23rd is cancelled due to Spring Break.
The next meeting will be held at 7:30 PM on Thursday, March 30th, 2006
Venue: Room 140-A, Education Building
Hope to see you there!
Solidarity,
CACC

CACC Meeting this week!

2006-03-06T15:26:00.000-06:00

There is a Coalition Against Coke Contracts meeting this week!

Date: Thursday (March 9th)
Time: 7:30 pm
Venue: 140-A Education Building.

Come join in the struggle to get Coke off our campus!

Next CACC Meeting

2006-02-15T12:01:00.000-06:00

The next Coalition Against Coke Contracts meeting will be help on Thursday, Feb 23rd, 2006.
Venue: Room 140 - A, Education Building

Killer Coke covered in Daily Illini

2006-02-15T11:59:00.000-06:00

Column: Killer Coke
By: Eric Naing
Read the article here..
http://www.dailyillini.com/media/paper736/news/2006/02/14/
Opinions/Column.Killer.Coke-1611999.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.dailyillini.com

"Killer Coke" Or Innocent Abroad?

2006-01-31T16:27:00.000-06:00

It's early monday morning, but Ray Rogers has the full attention of some 70 students in a Rutgers University classroom. For nearly half an hour, the 61-year-old labor activist rails against Coca-Cola Co. (KO ), taking the beverage giant to task for allegedly turning a blind eye as eight employees of Coke bottlers in Colombia were killed and scores more were threatened or jailed on trumped-up terrorism charges over the past decade.

"The reality is that the world of Coca-Cola is a world of lies, deceptions, corruption, gross human rights and environmental abuses!" thunders Rogers, a legendary union activist who cut his teeth organizing a highly publicized campaign against textile maker J.P. Stevens & Co. in the 1970s. He slams his hand on a desk. "But this is where it's going to stop! We're going to put an end to this once and for all! How many of you will stand up against Coke?" One by one, roughly half the students lift their hands. In response to Rogers' charges, a Coke spokeswoman says the activist "has no facts to support his claims."Despite the vast generation gap and Coke's rebuttals, Rogers' diatribes are starting to resonate on campuses from New Haven to Ann Arbor, where his "Killer Coke" campaign has become the latest cause célèbre among student activists -- "the new Nike," as one puts it. At dozens of schools, small but feisty groups of students have demonstrated against the company -- like the ones who staged a "die-in" during a 2004 Yale University speech by then-CEO Douglas N. Daft. Already, about 20 colleges in the U.S. and abroad have halted sales of Coke on campus, in part over the Colombia controversy.In December, Rogers bagged his two biggest victories to date when New York University and the University of Michigan banished Coke. For two years, NYU student activists had demanded an independent investigation of worker conditions in Colombia. "The students felt it has been two years, and nothing's been done," says Arthur Tannenbaum, a faculty spokesman at NYU. In response, a Coke spokesperson says the company would accept an outside review, but only if the findings aren't admissible in a lawsuit filed in Miami by the International Labor Rights Fund on behalf of the slain Colombian workers -- a condition the ILRF has not accepted.PICKING UP STEAM Coke officials maintain that the company has been unfairly tarred by union activists who have distorted the facts about Colombia. Perpetuating "urban myth is more exciting [for activists] than knowing what the facts are," says Edward E. Potter, a longtime corporate labor lawyer who joined Coke as global labor relations director last March. Coke officials say only one of the eight workers was killed on the premises of the Coke bottling plant owned by Bebidas y Alimentos de Urabá. Also, they say, the other deaths -- which all occurred off-premises -- were byproducts of Colombia's four-decade-long civil war among leftist guerrillas, government forces, and paramilitaries, which has resulted in at least 35,000 deaths, including 2,500 trade unionists since the mid-1980s alone.What's more, an important global coalition of labor unions has refused to support Rogers' anti-Coke crusade, which seeks reparations for the families of victims. "We have no evidence of complicity by Coke in the killing of workers," says Ron Oswald, general secretary of the International Union of Foodworkers in Geneva, whose members include tens of thousands of Coke workers worldwide. Some government and union leaders believe that the militant union leading the crusade, SINALTRAINAL, a Colombian union of food-industry workers known for its socialist views, has zeroed in on Coke as a way to get the broader issue of union violence heard around the world. "Out of one killing they built up a campaign," says Colombian Vice-President Francisco Santos Calderón. "In the end they're hurting Colombia" by making it seem like a dangerous place to do business.Still, Rogers seems to be picking up steam. The activist says he has been contacted by students at more than 100 other colleges looking to initiate similar protests, including Washington's Georgetown University and Atlanta's Emory University, whose endowment includes large holdings of Coca-Cola stock. Rogers also believes he can score a win in Britain in the coming months when the National Union of Students, a purchasing co-op for more than 200 student unions there, debates whether to renew Coke's beverage contract.The college deals -- collectively worth perhaps a few million dollars -- represent a negligible loss of business for the $23 billion soft-drink titan, which now generates 85% of its operating income outside the U.S. But the campaign is heating up at an awkward moment for Coca-Cola, which was recently eclipsed by PepsiCo (PEP ) in market value. Plus, Coke is pinning a revival on a new marketing plan set to launch in the spring around the theme "Welcome to the Coke Side of Life." "I know the impact we're having on Coke, and I know it's getting worse," says Rogers.Beyond bad PR, the Colombia controversy illustrates the challenges facing all multinationals that do business in unstable places. As Nike Inc. (NKE ) learned in its recent sweatshop labor flap, companies are increasingly being held accountable for everything that occurs all the way through the supply chain, even when it involves independent contractors, as is the case with Coke and its Colombian bottlers. In the end, some crisis-management experts believe Coke may be able to defuse the Colombia situation only by consenting, as Nike did, to an outside review, and by taking public steps to better ensure the safety of bottling company workers in countries such as Colombia. "You just can't...say: 'They're the bottlers, we just sell the syrup,"' says Edward F. Ahnert, a former president of ExxonMobil Foundation who teaches corporate social responsibility at Southern Methodist University's business school.BREAKING THE UNION What has transpired in Colombia over the past decade is a matter of debate. According to union leaders from SINALTRAINAL, on whose behalf the 2001 Miami lawsuit was filed, several years of violence and killings of Coke workers intensified on Dec. 5, 1996, when a right-wing paramilitary squad showed up at the gate of the Coke bottling plant owned by Bebidas y Alimentos in Carepa, a small town in northwestern Colombia's banana-growing region. The paramilitaries shot and killed Isidro Segundo Gil, the gatekeeper and a member of the union's executive board. An hour later they kidnapped another union leader at his home and torched the union's offices.The following day the paramilitaries returned to the plant, called workers together, and gave them until 4 p.m. to sign a statement resigning from the union on stationery the unionists claim bore the bottler's letterhead -- or else. Many union members resigned on the spot; 27 even quit their jobs and fled to other cities, fearing they would be killed if they stayed. Luis Hernán Manco, who was president of the union at the time, was summoned by the plant manager to a local tavern, where several paramilitaries warned him and other union leaders to leave town. "They said: 'If you want to live beyond today, get out of this area.' I knew they were serious," recalls Manco, now 59, who has been in hiding for nine years. For two more months, union leaders claim, the paramilitaries camped outside the front gate of the Carepa plant.The union alleges that Coke and its local bottler were complicit in these acts. (Both companies deny the charge.) Among the claims made in the lawsuit is an alleged 1996 public statement by Ariosto Milan Mosquera, the plant manager at Carepa, that "he had given an order to the paramilitaries to carry out the task of destroying the union." (The plant's owner, Richard Kirby of Key Biscayne, Fla., denies his managers gave any such orders.) Over the intervening nine years, in addition to the eight who died, 48 others have been forced into hiding, and 65 have received death threats, SINALTRAINAL leaders say. In Bucaramanga, a midsize city in northeastern Colombia, five union members who work at the Coke plant there were jailed for six months in 1995 on terrorism charges that were later dropped for lack of evidence. They were accused of planting an explosive device in the plant, but three of them who spoke to BusinessWeek said they doubt such a device ever existed.Union leaders insist Coke could have halted the violence by immediately -- and publicly -- repudiating the paramilitaries. "If the company had condemned the first death, there probably wouldn't have been any more," says Edgar Paez, director of international relations for SINALTRAINAL. A Coke spokesman disputes that. "Our bottlers have been quite open in condemning the violence," he says, pointing to local newspaper ads they published that denounced the violence. Paez also claims the Coca-Cola bottler financially benefited from the paramilitaries' actions, since they broke the union and allowed the bottler to replace many of its full-time employees with much cheaper part-time and temporary workers. Plant owner Kirby denies that charge and says he suffered, too: His wife's sister was kidnapped by the paramilitaries, who also burned four of his trucks and tried to coerce Kirby into selling his plant to them on the cheap, which he declined to do. "Nobody tells the paramilitaries what to do. They tell you," he says.There's no clear path for Coke to mitigate the controversy. Nike, after its initial reluctance to engage its critics, was able to resolve the allegations that it used sweatshop labor; the sneaker giant imposed tougher workplace standards on its suppliers and invited outside groups to help monitor their compliance. In April, Coke released the results of a study by Cal Safety Compliance Corp., a Los Angeles consultant that specializes in workplace audits, which found no current instances of anti-union violence or intimidation at Coke bottling plants in Colombia. But union activists and students were unmoved, since Coke had paid for the study, and demanded that the company agree to an independent investigation of its Colombian operations. At first, Coke said yes, but the plan hit an impasse over the findings' admissibility in the ongoing lawsuit, from which Coke was dropped as a defendant by the judge in 2003. (The bottlers remain defendants.)Activist Rogers is demanding that Coke pay reparations to the families of the slain and displaced Colombian workers, noting that the company came up with $192.5 million to settle a racial-discrimination class action in the U.S. in 2000. In Bogotá, SINALTRAINAL's Paez says each survivor should get regular payments equal to the monthly salary received by Coke's CEO. "What is a life worth?" he asks. A Coke spokeswoman responds: "We were not complicit in what happened, so it wouldn't make sense for us to pay reparations." But for Coke, resolving the legal questions and diffusing the Colombia controversy may be two different things.
[http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_04/b3968074.htm ]

CACC invites you to the first meeting in 2006!

2006-01-25T13:20:00.000-06:00

Dear CACC Supporters,

Happy New Year and welcome back to campus! As most of you have heard by now 2006 started with a victory for the anti-coke movement!

On December 29th, the University of Michigan noted in a letter to the Coca-Cola Company that Coke had failed to agree to a protocol for investigation. Beginning January 1st, 2006 the University of Michigan suspended purchasing of Coca-Cola products.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a five-year exclusive contract with Coca-Cola that is up for renewal in 2007. CACC commends the action that members of the Licensing Committee and Chancellor Richard Herman have taken regarding the contract with Coca Cola. On November 30 Chancellor Richard Herman wrote to Coca-Cola's director of global labor relations, expressing "serious concern about allegations concerning bottling plants in Colombia and India."

The next semester is going to be a busy and exciting time for CACC as we gear up to demand that the University of Illinois cut the existing exclusive contract with Coca-Cola and make sure that it does not enter any future contracts with a company that has committed numerous human rights, environmental and labor violations.

CACC invites you to our first public meeting of 2006. Come join us in the struggle to get Coke out of our campus!

The meeting is at 7:30 PM on Thursday, January 26th, 2006
Venue: Education Building, Room 140-A.
Everyone is welcome!

Convention On Plachimada Struggle:January 20, 2006

2006-01-17T09:01:00.000-06:00

The State has appealed against the High Court ruling that permitted Coca Cola to extract up to 5 lakh liters per day and that perumatty Panchayat should issue license. Coca Cola suceeded in getting the Kerala government to attempt tp broker a fresh deal between the Coca Cola, the State and the Panchayat excluding the struggle/Solidarity Committee, to identify options that would benefit Coca cola such as declaration of Plachimada as an industrial area to overcome the restrictions placed on ground water, shifting the plant to Kanjicode, an industrial area, with liberal sops from the state etc. Perumatty Panchayat has issued license with 13 conditions to comply with the High Court ruling. Coca Cola has accepted the license under protest. No criminal charges has yet been filed against Coca Cola for the crime against the people despite the piling up of evidences. The factory at Plachimada remain closed awaiting favourable judgement in the cases filed and which are in the Supreme Court.

The struggle of the people of Plachimada has finally recieved legitimacy from general public across the state, from most of the political parties in the state, from the State through its appeal against the high court judgement, from small and large protest groups and social and political movements from the state and across the country. It has also received the support of various student unions besides others, in the US and Europe, through boycotts causing Coca Cola to lose contracts in university campuses. Yet the ground water of Plachimada has not changed. No action has been taken against Coca Cola. No action has been taken to change the laws that has proved to be ineffective to handle such major crimes against the people.

The issues of who has the primary rights over water and the right of governance of water are now in the Supreme Court for it to de! cide upon when these are subject matters to be finalised in the political arena through democratic process and is not for the courts to determine. It is in these circumstances that the Anti Coca Cola Struggle Committee and the Plachimada Solidarity Committee is giving a call for this Convention on 20 January 2006.

The Plachimada struggle has been able to get the state, political system and the judiciary to respond to the problem. The challenge before us is that the state, the political system and the judiciary have clearly failed to address the survival question of Plachimada. Clearly, it indicates that it is now for the people to reclaim and assert their legitimate rights and establish their power to govern themselves for equity and justice. It is this challenge that need to be addressed through a new phase of struggle. The Convention is expected to raise and clarify these to contribute to the evolution of strategies to address these issues politically and democratically.&nbs! p;

ANTI COCA COLA STRUGGLE COMMITEE
PLACHIMADA,KANNIMMARY

University of Michigan Suspends Business with Coca-Cola: Students' Response

2005-12-29T19:21:00.000-06:00

After more than a year of student campaigning by the University of Michigan’s Coalition to Cut the Contract with Coca-Cola, the University of Michigan has temporarily suspended University purchasing of Coca-Cola products effective January 1, 2006. While the Coalition to Cut the Contract with Coca-Cola is elated that the university has finally taken this necessary step to enforce its Vendor Code of Conduct, the Coalition is concerned that the University still asserts that the Coca-Cola Company is acting in “good faith” concerning their environmental and human rights violations.

Since April 2005 when the University of Michigan’s Dispute Review Board recommended that the contract with Coca-Cola be cut if reforms were not made by certain deadlines, the Coca-Cola Company has been found guilty of several additional human rights violations, such as union busting in Turkey. Since May 20, 2005, over 100 members of the union DISK/Nakliyat-Ls who distribute Coca-Cola in Turkey have been fired, a move clearly targeted to remove the union from the plant, then beaten violently when they tried to camp out in cardboard boxes in front of the plant to try and win back their jobs. At the same time, in the United States, the Coca-Cola Company has stalled the process of an independent investigation by demanding that the results of any independent investigation be inadmissible as evidence in a Miami lawsuit against the company. Several other universities around the world, the most recent being New York University, have cut or suspended their contracts because of these blatant acts of bad faith, yet Tim Slottow and Peggy Norgren, University of Michigan’s Chief Financial Officer and Associate Vice President for Finance respectively, claim that the Coca-Cola Company has acted in good faith during the last six months.

The Coalition to Cut the Contract with Coca-Cola congratulates the University’s decision to suspend the contract with Coca-Cola in response to Coca-Cola’s past and continuing human rights and environmental violations. The Coca-Cola Company’s efforts to treat those violations as public relations issues, instead of taking the necessary steps to become a socially responsible corporation should not be considered good faith. It is our hope that the University will clearly articulate that the contracts were suspended because Coca-Cola is violating the ethical standards of the University and that the company has done nothing to change.

Shopkeeper took on Coke - and won

2005-11-23T09:48:00.000-06:00

· Accusation of bullying tactics ends in record fines
· Multinational appeals against Mexican rulings

Jo Tuckman in Mexico City
Thursday November 17, 2005

Guardian

The 49-year-old owner of a tiny corner shop in a rundown part of Mexico City has done what few of her compatriots thought possible: taken on Coca-Cola and won. "Everybody got scared and told me I was crazy and I'd be ruined," Raquel Chavez recalled. "I said I'd rather die with my dignity intact than be trampled on."
Mrs Chavez's allegations that the soft-drink giant was trying to bully her into taking other products off her shelves lie at the heart of a 157 million peso fine (£8.6m) imposed by the federal competition commission against a Coke subsidiary and 15 distributors after a two-year investigation. A second fine of £31m prompted by a complaint from Pepsi followed; the largest fine ever imposed by the watchdog.

The cases revolved around allegations that Coca-Cola and its distributors abused their dominant position in the market, threatening shopkeepers with taking away promotional fridges and other material if they continued to display, or in some cases stock, rival products.

Although decided in the summer, neither penalty was announced owing to the watchdog's policy of keeping quiet until the appeals process is completed. Spokesmen from both it and Coke have confirmed the rulings, but said appeals are under way. "We're presenting arguments that our business practices do comply with Mexican competition laws," a Coca-Cola spokesman, Charlie Sutlive, told the Guardian.

These are the multinational's first fines in Mexico, a country governed by a former Coke executive and where more Coca-Cola products are consumed per capita than anywhere else in the world. Coke accounts for about 70% of a carbonated drinks market that is so ingrained in daily life that police use "for my softdrink" as code to ask for a bribe, and fizzy drinks have become part of religious rituals in some indigenous communities.

The fines, if upheld, would be of little economic concern for Coca-Cola in Mexico, but represent a blow to the company's image. They delight Mrs Chavez, who, as she told her story on an upturned Coke crate outside her shop, showed little concern that she will not see any of the cash.

Years of resentment about the company's tactics, she said, developed into confrontation in 2003 when her distributor sought to stop her selling Big Cola. Cheaper than Coke and sold in extra-large bottles, the Peruvian brand is becoming popular in working-class areas like her own. Mrs Chavez alleged that Coca-Cola had tried to make her and other small shopkeepers stop stocking the Peruvian upstart by threatening to take away their fridges, awnings and the free gifts used to entice clients. "I told him I may only have a tiny shop, but I would be ashamed to practise business the way you do."

Mrs Chavez claimed such run-ins prompted the distributor to refuse to supply her, a move that led to her decision to lodge a complaint at the competition commission. The complaint was later expanded by Big Cola. Aware that no shop in Mexico can survive without selling Coke, Mrs Chavez borrowed money to buy from more expensive wholesale outlets. She hauled the crates up the hill to her shop by herself as her husband watched, furious at his wife's stubbornness.

"I thought that they were going to be able to say to me, 'Look, ant, we stamped on you,'" she said. "I am so proud."

Mathrubhumi wins suit against Coca Cola

2005-11-23T09:45:00.000-06:00

A sub court in Kochi has dismissed a suit filed by Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Ltd, Palakkad, seeking Rs 50 lakh damages from Malayalam newspaper Mathrubhumi for publishing a news report against it.

Coca Cola had alleged in the suit, filed before the Ernakulam sub court, that the newspaper had carried a report on December 21, 2003, stating that its soft drink contained toxic materials, including insecticides, which was damaging to the company.

The company had stated that most of the imputations made by Mathrubhumi were 'baseless' and were a 'calculated' move to curb the sale of the soft drink. The news item contained a message that people should abandon Coca Cola and switch over to tender coconut, the soft drink major alleged.

Justifying their stand, the newspaper filed a detailed reply refuting all the allegations.

It submitted that the said news report was published in public interest and was based on scientific reports, findings of the Delhi based Centre for Science and Environment and the Joint Parliamentary Committee headed by Sharad Pawar, which looked into the Coca Cola affair.

The suit was dismissed by sub judge Ragini on Monday after the counsel for Coca Cola failed to turn up.

CONVERGE on ATLANTA at the WORLD OF COCA-COLA on Friday, November 18

2005-11-16T16:45:00.000-06:00

Greetings,

Join the international movement for justice and human rights against the Coca-Cola Company for murder, torture, pollution, and union-busting throughout the world!

CONVERGE on ATLANTA at the WORLD OF COCA-COLA on Friday, November 18 on the way to SOA demonstration!

At the Entrance of the World of Coca-Cola - Friday, November 18, 2005, noon
55 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive (at Central Ave) Atlanta, GA
http://www.woccatlanta.com/directions.shtml

Noon - Rally & Press Conf with William Mendoza, Coca-Cola Worker & Vice President of SINALTRAINAL (Colombian Food & Beverage Workers' Union)

We are preparing for what we believe will be a turning point in the campaign to hold Coke accountable for violence in Colombia & India as well as Turkey, Indonesia and Guatemala. Coke has been doing everything it can to not only discredit the union SINALTRAINAL in Colombia and grassroots movements in India and elswhere, but also to deflate the global student movement. Coke's arrogance and blatant negligence has only expanded the campaign and fueled student militancy on campus - victory is near and we need your support! Come to the World of Coca-Cola to protest with hundreds of folks coming down to demonstrate against the School of the Americas!

The Press Conference & Rally is the culmination of the North American Speaking Tour with SINALTRAINAL Vice President William Mendoza and United Students Against Sweatshops that has hit schools and communities from Tallahassee to Seattle, Toronto to Los Angeles, Chicago to Knoxville! At the the World of Coca-Cola on November 18, we will see people of conscience and action, including workers from Colombia & the United States, gather to say "Stop Killer Coke"!

Since 1986, roughly 4,000 Colombian trade unionists have been murdered. The vast majority of these murders have been carried out by right-wing paramilitary groups, known as death squads, on an ideological mission to destroy the labor movement. These groups often work in collaboration with the official U.S.- supported Colombian military, and in some instances with managers at plants producing for multinational corporations. In the case of Coca-Cola, according to numerous credible reports, the company and its business partners have turned a blind eye to, financially supported, and actively colluded with paramilitary groups in efforts to destroy workers' attempts to organize unions and bargain collectively.

Since 1989, eight union leaders from Coca-Cola plants have been murdered by paramilitary forces. Dozens of other workers have been intimidated, kidnapped, or tortured. In Carepa, members of the paramilitary murdered union leader Isidro Gil in broad daylight inside his factory's gates. They returned the next day and forced all of the plant's workers to resign from their union by signing documents on Coca-Cola letterhead.

The most recent murder attempt occurred on August 22, 2003, when two men riding motorcycles fired shots at Juan Carlos Galvis, a worker leader at Coca-Cola's Barrancabermeja plant.
There is substantial evidence that managers of several bottling plants have ordered assaults to occur and made regular payments to leaders of the paramilitary groups carrying out the attacks.
These ongoing abuses have taken their toll on Coca-Cola workers' efforts to organize. The Colombian Food & Beverage Workers Union, SINALTRAINAL, has suffered a dramatic loss in membership, as worker leaders are intimidated or forced into hiding. SINALTRAINAL has appealed for solidarity and allies in the U.S. and labor and social justice movements have answered their call.

In India communities living next to Coca-Cola bottling plants are experiencing severe water shortages and polluted groundwater resources and soil. In at least two communities, Coca-Cola was distributing its toxic waste under the guise of fertilizer and repeated tests have confirmed that Coca-Cola was selling sub-standard products in the Indian marketplace with levels of pesticides exceeding 30 times those allowed by the European Union standards.

A massive grassroots movement has emerged in India to hold Coca-Cola accountable for its crimes, and literally tens of thousands of community members, primarily from rural India, are taking action to put an end to Coca-Cola's abuses. The community opposition to Coca-Cola in India continues to grow and no amount of misinformation by Coca-Cola is going to stop it.

Demand: Coca-Cola Take Responsibility & Immediate Action for Truth, Justice, & Reparations!

Contact information: Camilo A. Romero || 510.7174227 ||
organize@usasnet.org || www.studentsagainstsweatshops.org

Join us in taking an important and historic step for local peace and global justice! Spread the word about the Stop Killer Coke campaign and the November 18 action in Atlanta!

Coalition Against Coke Contracts invites you to two public talks by Amit Srivastava

2005-11-01T15:57:00.000-06:00

Venue: Allen Hall, South Rec. Room (1005 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana)
When: Thursday, November 3, 2005, 5:00 pm

Venue: Urbana Independent Media Center (202 S. Broadway, Urbana)
When: Friday, November 4, 2005, 6:00 pm

About Amit Srivastava:
Amit Srivastava is the Coordinator of India Resource Center and the Director of Global Resistance. Amit coordinated the Climate Justice Initiative and International Programs at CorpWatch from 1997-2002. Prior to CorpWatch, he worked as Community Organizer with the Asian Immigrant Women Advocates (AIWA) in California, working with low-income, Chinese immigrant women working in the garment industry. He has also served as the National Organizer and Training Director with the Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC), the largest student environmental organization in the US at the time.

Boycott Bottled Drinks, contains blood and sweat of people says Medha Patkar

2005-10-26T09:18:00.000-05:00

Express News Service
Bangalore, October 24

Several students and activists gathered at St. Joseph's Arts and Science College to express solidarity and support against several water privatisation issues on Wednesday in the city.

``We just cannot waste a single minute before we act against the privatisation of water resources in the country. We're losing not only our democracy, but also our resources, '' said Medha Patkar, noted environmentalist and one of the fore-runners of the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

She delved into history talking about the Nehruvian model of development that did not solve any issues related to water scarcity but worsened it. ```Today, the unroganised and under-privileged section of people have to walk several kilometre for potable water because of flaws in water sector policies. ''

Keeping in mind, the Plachimada struggle against the Coca-cola plant in Kerala, she stressed on boycotting bottled drinks, including bottled water. ``Water is being commodified. The right to life is being questioned. Every bottle of soft drinks or water contains the blood of several communities who are suffering from water shortage thanks to these plants drawing 15 lakh litres a day from their area. ''

The State is selling our ground water, particularly in South Karnataka added the environmentalist. ``There is a Coca-cola factory in almost every district of Karnataka. The vulgar profits these companies make needs to be questioned. We also have to take into consideration that with these plants, the State in turn has become a privatised body. ''

With water sector reforms coming into place in Karnataka, she questioned the role of the Asian Development Bank, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund that were luring the State with `juicy' stories.

She concluded the talk by asking all the people at the gathering to boycott bottled water and soft drinks. The talk was followed by a protest against the same at Nanjappa Circle near Langford Road.

2005-10-24T16:39:00.000-05:00

2005-10-24T16:37:00.000-05:00

While soft-drink companies boast of their contributions to economic progress and development in India, community members living near the giant bottling plants are telling a different story. Severe water shortages along with soil and groundwater pollution are threatening people's livelihoods, and even their lives.

Mehandiganj: Where Life is At Stake offers a view into one community's struggles against a local Coca-Cola bottling plant and it's destructive environmental practices. The film highlights the courage and hope of the local people, while leaving the viewer with a clear picture of the violence and intimidation that Coca-Cola is willing to use to protect its $4.8 billion in annual profits.

Runtime is approximately 36 minutes, and a question and answer session will follow.

2005-10-23T21:37:00.000-05:00

Upcoming Events!

CACC invites you to a documentary film screening about the struggle against Coca-Cola’s
corporate callousness in northern India

Mehandiganj: Where life is at stake

Followed by a discussion

When: Wednesday, October 26th, 2005 7:00 PM
Where: 192 Education Building (1310 S. Sixth Street Champaign)

A talk by Amit Shrivastav of India Resource & Global Resistance
On Coke in India

Thursday, November 03, 2005
7:30 PM

Venue: TBD

Update: Audio stream of an interview with Amit from Oct 2005.