U.K. Students Union Votes To Keep Coca-Cola Products On Campuses As U.N. Group Agrees To Assess Colombia Labor Practices

April 07, 2006 edition

The United Kingdom‘s National Union of Students (NUS) voted on March 30 to keep Coca-Cola products on university campuses, a decision that affects student unions on more than 250 campuses, and comes just days after the International Labor Organization (ILO) agreed to investigate and evaluate the labor relations practices of the Coca-Cola bottlers in Colombia.

"The Company is extremely pleased with both of these developments," said Ed Potter, the Company‘s director of Global Labor Relations. "They reflect an understanding that The Coca-Cola Company is committed to acting as a responsible corporate citizen and wants to work collaboratively with others to ensure that we appropriately address public concerns."

The ILO, which develops and promotes international labor standards for the United Nations, agreed in a letter to our Company dated March 24 to assess our Colombian labor practices. Earlier in March, our Company and the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers‘ Associations (IUF) separately asked the ILO to complete such an assessment. In 2005, our Company had a certified social compliance auditor -- Cal Safety Compliance Corporation -- conduct a third-party assessment of the labor relations practices of Coca-Cola bottlers in Colombia. That assessment confirmed that workers in Coca-Cola bottling plants enjoy freedom of association, collective bargaining rights and a work atmosphere free of anti-union intimidation.

Nevertheless, questions about our system‘s labor relations practices in Colombia persisted. Such questions led to activists proposing boycotts of our products on some college campuses.

According to the NUS website, two organizations -- the London-based Colombian Solidarity Campaign and the U.S.-based India Resource Centre -- led the efforts to eliminate Coca-Cola products from student unions throughout the United Kingdom.

Student activists joined their efforts and asked NUS delegates to vote on a boycott. The Ethical & Environmental Committee of NUS‘ purchasing group, NUS Services, began looking into activists‘ allegations about labor practices in Colombia and environmental practices in India.

The committee met at least a dozen times with various representatives from our labor, environmental and public affairs teams over a two-year period to gather information and address concerns.

In rejecting the call for a boycott of our products, the NUS delegates said they wanted NUS Services to continue engaging with our Company in dialogue about our labor and environmental practices.

The ILO assessment is expected to add further evidence of our commitment to corporate responsibility.

The ILO will determine how the assessment is to be carried out, over what time period, and how and when its findings will be reported. The Coca-Cola Company and the Colombian bottlers have pledged their full cooperation in the investigation. Because the ILO will lead the investigation, further communications about it will come from appropriate ILO representatives.

"We are proud of our labor relations practices and believe that The Coca-Cola Company is a world leader in ensuring the rights and safety of the people who work for us," Potter said. "Maintaining our leadership means hearing out even our harshest critics and working with third parties, including international labor organizations and non-governmental organizations and other multi-national corporations, to address concerns and develop solutions."