In practice, however, Coke has imposed a new labor policy on EGSAJ The Atlanta-based soft-drink manu-' facturer has declined to discuss the substance of the agreement. rather than seeking to impose a uniform labor relations policy.' to let independent foreign management and local labor work out their (own) arrangements.

Officially Coke has denied this, arguing that its 800 franchises in more than 135 countries are independent companies: 'It is the long-standing practice of the Coca-Cola Company. Circuit and I U F General Secretary Dan Gallin, is extraordinary in several respects.įirst, it in effect constitutes an unprecedented acknowledgement by a multinational corporation of responsibility for the actions of its franchise holders. The Coca-Cola agreement, worked out at a July 8 meeting in Geneva between Coke Vice President Harold T.

an unmercifully ruthless campaign of intimidation and terror' against the Guatemalan workers. Congressman Don Pease (D-Ohio) has accused of ' orchestrating. Trotter, a Houston-based attorney whom U.S. Under pressure from an international boycott organized by the International Union of Food and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), Coca-Cola has tentatively agreed to buy out the current franchise holder, recognize the union, and remove the management team of EGSA president John C. Now, after unflinching worker resistance and an effective international boycott, Coke appears to be making extraordinary concessions.Īfter enduring four years of assassinations, kidnappings, death threats, mass firings, and military and police raids, workers at the Coca-Cola franchise in Guatemala City appear to have won a major victory in their drive to unionize Embotelladora Guatemalteca S.A.

Coca-Cola's franchise in Guatemala has been the scene of brutal labor repression over the past four years.

Coca cola death squad