Coke boycott makes new progress

international | worker & community struggles and protests | news report

Thursday February 02, 2006 16:36

by Dan - Colombia Solidarity Network

As US students vote to support the boycott campaign, Irish activists will be meeting to discuss the nest step

It’s now over two years since Irish universities gave the Coke boycott campaign its first big success, and the international campaign in solidarity with SINALTAINAL continues to pick up momentum. American universities have recently voted to ban Coke products from their shops, and the US business press is asking questions about Coke’s crimes in Colombia. Meanwhile, Irish activists will be meeting to see where the campaign can go from here.

In July 2003, the Colombian union SINALTRAINAL launched the call for an international boycott of Coca-Cola. SINALTRAINAL members in Coke’s Colombian plants had been the targets of a brutal anti-union campaign initiated by management. 8 union members have been murdered since the early nineties, and hundreds more threatened with violence.

In October of that year, UCD became the first university in the world to vote in favour of the Coke boycott. When opponents of the boycott organised a second referendum to overturn it, they were heavily defeated. Within months, students at Trinity and NCAD had also voted to ban Coke from their Student Union shops.

The student referendums attracted coverage in the national media, with one of Coke’s most senior Latin American representatives debating with a member of the solidarity campaign on the Pat Kenny radio show. Hundreds of students attended public meetings addressed by SINALTRAINAL leaders.

Demonstrating a bizarre sense of humour, somebody in the UCD administration arranged a ceremony to give Coke’s former CEO Donald Keogh an honorary degree on the first anniversary of the boycott referendum in 2004. It was cancelled after protests.

Since then, trade unions including the TUI and INTO have voted to support the boycott, as has USI. British unions have also given their support to the campaign, including UNISON, the biggest union in the UK.

The campaign has also made important progress in the United States. Students at New York University and the University of Michigan have recently voted to support the boycott. The negative publicity has been a major source of embarrassment to Coke, and has attracted attention in the US business press.

New York City’s chief accountant William Thompson, who is responsible for investing its pension funds, has recently called for an independent inquiry into the allegations against Coke, warning that "by failing to address this issue, Coca-Cola has fostered a negative image of itself and is now the subject of a boycott campaign, which poses a financial risk for its investors”.

There have even been daily protests in Italy wherever the Olympic flame has been carried. Coca-Cola is one of the major sponsors of the Olympics.

Coke has attempted to deflect criticism by setting up a $10m charity fund for victims of political violence in Colombia. If the charges brought against them by the boycott campaign had been totally groundless, they would not have felt any need to do this. But they have still refused to take responsibility for the crimes committed against their own workers, and the boycott will continue until they do.

Next weekend, the Irish boycott campaign will be meeting in Dublin to discuss the way ahead.

Where: Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin
When: Saturday February 11th 2pm
Who: everyone who is interested in the boycott of Coke

The meeting will cover:
- The history of the campaign in Ireland
- Update on Coke in Colombia
- The growth of the international boycott coke movement

The meeting will then open up to a general discussion of how to
progress the campaign in Ireland

For further information ring/ text 086 286 6631

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Comments (15 of 15)

Nice one

by Jim

Thu Feb 02, 2006 21:38

Great to see the boycottt coke campaign going so well around the world.

Very well written news release, Dan!

by Coilín

Fri Feb 03, 2006 00:02

Thanks for an exceptionally well written piece covering recent developments, the background story and the call to action in Dublin.

Coilín.

Coca Cola

by John

Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:12

There is no evidence whatever to support your claim that this campaign is going well. The most recent figures for Coca Cola's profits worldwide from the third quarter of last year show them up 10 per cent on the previous period. In Ireland Coca Cola's sales are soaring and they retain by far the largest share of the market for soft drinks. The only effects of this silly boycott are (a) supermarkets close to UCD and TCD are now taking the trade that used to be taken by shops, restaurants and bars in the universities themselves and (b) Coca-Cola announced last April that they are closing their botting plant in Kildare and moving production to Lisburn.

Not just an Irish issue John

by Boycotter

Fri Feb 03, 2006 10:40

And for your information the boycott did not have anything to do with plant moving from the Naas Road (Dublin not Kildare). The crapness of Speed and her union probably had more to do with that. And to show that this is an international issue mentioned in quite a few business (not lefty mags) mags follow this link.

John

by SH

Fri Feb 03, 2006 11:43

John to suggest that students are going to their nearest supermarket to buy coke instead of an alternative in their SU shops is ridiculous in the extreme. Are you honestly suggesting that students in UCD will walk up to 30 mins to a shop off campus to get a can of coke?

It was also obvious from before the boycott campaign that coke would be closing their bottling facility. It has nothing to do with the campaign, it is merely a consequence of coke and their never ending campaign to make as much profit as possible at the expense of their workforce and the public.

Do Your Bit

by The Rogue

Fri Feb 03, 2006 12:32

Being a supporter of the anti coke campaign I am glad to see any success no matter how small. If enough can be done to make Coke change their policies all well and good. However on a personal basis I can look myself in the mirror each day safe in the knowledge that I wasn't contributing one penny/cent into the coffers of this multinational.

dunaree2000

Fri Feb 03, 2006 15:27

There is no need for UCD students to walk 30 minutes off campus to get their supplies of coke (as in 'Coca Cola' I hasten to add and not the other kind of coke). They can easily buy their cans in the morning on leaving home and bring them to the campus. As far as I'm aware, the Students Union Stasi have not yet got around to setting up checkpoints at the entrance to UCD, where people can be searched in case they have cans of the dreaded stuff in their bags, although no doubt that will be the next step. It isn't at all clear that the Naas Road bottling plant was the one for the chop before this campaign started. It's been obvious for some time that Coca Cola was going to centralise its production for the Irish market in one plant. With the 'one-island' economy, it was becoming more and more of an economic nonsense to have separate bottling plants in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Many companies face a similar situation. In most cases, because of such factors as lower business taxes in the Republic, the fact that Dublin is more central to the whole island than Belfast and the fact that the Republic has a much larger population than Northern Ireland, they choose to centralise production south of the border. In this case, Coca Cola have done the opposite. How do you know your campaign didn't influence Coca Cola in making this decision? Generally, the unionist population in Northern Ireland is very reluctant to join in any of these anti-capitalist campaigns and this may well have been a factor in Coca Cola choosing Lisburn rather than Dublin to centralise their production in.

Fri Feb 03, 2006 15:54

As usual John your head is in the clouds. First of all to think that a significant number of students stock up on their cans of coke in the morning is ridiculous, while their might be a few sugar addicts out there the numbers would be very very few. Perhaps your time should be spent talking to students instead of posting right wing delusions on this website. Secondly to call the UCDSU Statsi is just idiocy. Two referendums were held, both voted for the boycott. It was the student population who decided to boycott Coke. Thirdly, well before the referendum I had heard that the Coke plant was going to be shut down, and during the course of the referendum I heard it frequently that it was going to be shut. The decision to shut the plant was not because of the referendum, it had been taken long before that.

The impact of the campaign

Fri Feb 03, 2006 16:14

Not much point engaging with John and his "black=white, democracy=stalinism, the truth is what I say it is" world-view, but anyone who wants to see the impact this campaign is having should follow the following links:

http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/index.php?option=c...id=56

http://www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk/index.php?option=c...id=56

John's got his finger on the pulse?

by Coca Leafer

Fri Feb 03, 2006 17:20

"(b) Coca-Cola announced last April that they are closing their botting plant in Kildare and moving production to Lisburn. "

The Naas Road bottling plant must be in Kildare. Well done John, I bow to your superior knowledge on everything.
Just to help you a bit further John that Colombia that is being talked about here isn't the District of Columbia. I know how these things can confuse neocon cheerleaders.

Fri Feb 03, 2006 20:02

So, I confused Naas Road and Naas. Big deal! Hardly as confused as those who last year were simultaneously calling for a complete boycott of all Coca Cola products in Ireland and protesting against the closure of the Coca Cola bottling plant. Pray tell me, if your campaign succeeded and everybody in Ireland stopped drinking Coca Cola, what would the bottling plant bottle?

Thanks for acknowledging that the campaign has had an impact, John

Sat Feb 04, 2006 02:01

You wrote:
"Generally, the unionist population in Northern Ireland is very reluctant to join in any of these anti-capitalist campaigns and this may well have been a factor in Coca Cola choosing Lisburn rather than Dublin to centralise their production in."

Now, I'm not sure this campaign can be labelled so simply "anti-capitalist". You don't have to be anti-capitalist to denounce the assassination of the courageous Colombian trade union activists who have campaigned for a living wage for themselves and their families.

But whatever you might label it, you do acknowledge that the campaign has probably driven Coke away north. Thank you. So the next step is to get them to leave the bottling plant in Lisburn, and if it's as easy as the first step, sher the Irish campaign will be successfully completed in no time.

And don't worry, a chara, the thirsty people of Ireland will think of something else to buy in bottles, and somebody else to put it in them.

(If only we could bring St. Patrick back, to banish Coke from the whole island of Ireland ... He could stop by Shannon Airport and banish the US army while he's at it.)

Beir beannacht agus céad,
Coilín.

Cokey Cola

by Mikey - Pornographic Society Ireland

Mon Feb 06, 2006 20:48

Dublin City

0891505050

Ever since the boycott started ive stoped snorting cocaine from columbia. Im glad to be a part of this worthy cause.

Double coke boycott

by Topper

Tue Feb 07, 2006 12:59

Well both products are bad for you and both industries do a lot of damage to people in Colombia, so stay off them both would be my advice

Is there a tour planned?

by know152

Tue Feb 21, 2006 18:52

Or are you keeping to the pale this time out?

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Coke boycott makes new progress

Comments (15 of 15)