'The Coca-Cola Case'

[Judi Lynn]

'The Coca-Cola Case'
More than a documentary, it's a vehicle for a global movement for corporate accountability and union rights.
By Tom Sandborn, Yesterday, TheTyee.ca

http://thetyee.cachefly.net.nyud.net:8090/ArtsAndCulture/2011/03/24/coca-cola-blood.jpg

"For nine years the 450 workers at the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Guatemala City fought a battle for their jobs, their trade union and their lives. Three times they occupied the plant -- on the last occasion for 13 months. Three general secretaries of their union were murdered and five other workers killed. Four more were kidnapped and have disappeared. Against all the odds they survived, thanks to their own extraordinary courage and help from fellow trade unionists in Guatemala and around the world." -- From the back cover of Soft Drink, Hard Labour: Guatemalan Workers Take On Coca-Cola by Mike Gatehouse and Miguel Angel Reyes

Imagine living under conditions that mean simply joining a trade union could get you and your family members killed, your daughter gang raped or see you driven into exile by the fear of company thugs. A growing chorus of labour lawyers, social critics and human rights activists are saying that is exactly the situation facing workers employed by Coca-Cola bottlers in Third World countries. These days, some of the voices making these allegations are being raised in Canada. They say that there is a line of responsibility that runs from Coca-Cola's corporate offices in Atlanta to the violence of anti-union gunmen in the Third World -- a claim that the Coca-Cola corporation steadfastly denies.

Last month, the Surrey Teachers Association (STA) hosted a film night for its members, showing the National Film Board production The Coca Cola Case. The film, which won a Best in Festival Award in 2010 at the Canadian Labour International Festival, chronicles a pair of lawsuits launched against the soft drink giant by the United Steel Workers of America and the International Labour Rights Fund in 2001 and 2006 on behalf of a Colombian union. The film focuses on labour lawyers Dan Kovalik and Terry Collingsworth and veteran human rights campaigner Ray Rogers as they fight to hold Coca-Cola accountable for anti-labour violence allegedly promoted by the company's bottling plants.

Typically Coke is not bottled in Third World countries by wholly owned Coca-Cola company plants. The local companies, however, are intimately involved with the soft drink giant through interlocking boards, partial stock ownership and stringent marketing and branding requirements. For example, a 2010 suit alleging similar anti-union violence under the aegis of the Coca-Cola brand in Guatemala argues that "While there may be some aspects of the bottlers' operations that are dealt with by local management, Coke retains authority over major issues that affect product quality, marketing and other issues that could have a major impact on the Coke brand image. Compliance with international human rights and labor standards at all of the Coke bottling plants is one of the areas that Coke has specifically asserted that it controls and/or directs from its operations in the United States."

More:
http://thetyee.ca/ArtsAndCulture/2011/03/25/CocaColaCase/

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