Student activists involved with the Coke Coalition at the University of Michigan have successfully organized to require that all contracts with Coca-Cola be suspended and replaced with shorter conditional contracts pending an investigation by an independent body into abuses at Coca-Cola plants in Colombia. The University Dispute Review Board (DRB) has found allegations of human rights abuses by Coca-Cola, including the killing and intimidation of union organizers and corrupt labor practices in Colombia and India, to be credible. The DRB has setup a timeline of events and conditions that must be fulfilled if Coca-Cola is to maintain its contract with the university including Coca-Cola’s agreement to a third-party audit to be completed by March of 2006 with a “corrective action plan” enacted by Coca-Cola by no later than May 31, 2006.
While the Coke Coalition was asking for all university contracts with Coca-Cola to be dropped, a move that would have cost the company $1.3 million in revenue, the investigation into Coca-Cola’s labor practices is another victory for students organizing at the University of Michigan. Last year, activists with activists with Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality (SOLE) organized to get the university to adopt a Vendor Code of Conduct, of which the aforementioned DRB is a part. The DRB was created to investigate complaints brought forth against vendors and ensure compliance with the Vendor Code of Conduct.
Related posts:
- University of Michigan Suspends Sale of Coca-Cola
- NYU Joins Institutions Banning Coca-Cola for its Human Rights Abuses in Colombia
- Coca-Cola: Executives Get Bonuses, Death Threats for Workers in Colombia
- Coke Misses University of Michigan Deadlines for Human Rights Investigation
- Killer Coke Campaign Criticizes University of Michigan and Coke
