For the last two years, Sinaltrainal has marked 22nd July as its day of campaign against Coke. It commemorates the anniversary of the day one of the leaders of this union that works with beverage, hotel and service workers in Colombia was gunned down, allegedly at the behest of Coca Cola.

Since then, 8 other union leaders have been killed in Colombia, all somehow connected to Sinaltrainal’s campaign for the working rights of the laborers of in Coca Cola plants – plants where the company has targeted unions.

This year, the campaigns were international to the extent that voices representing the exploitation of workers in Colombia were joined by voices representing exploitation of communities around bottling plants in India.

In various places around the United States, events were held to raise awareness – and sometimes remind people – of the unethical policies of Coca Cola in various parts of the world – especially in third world countries.

In the current environment of globalization, large companies have often gone to remote parts of the world with names that the companies’ stock holders can often not pronounce. And in these remote parts, they have engaged in exploitative practices that they would often not indulge in their own communities.

And in these remote communities, the MNCs often go as harbingers of development – promising jobs and prosperity. However, often, these communities become the target for exploitation with their own access to their land, water and natural resources becoming extremely limited.

In this environment, it is extremely important that information about such exploitative practices is shared with the stockholders and the stakeholders of the company. And it is important that the world know about the practices of these MNCs so that they are aware that these companies are more often than not the harbingers of pain, of suffering and of exploitation.

The United Steel Workers Association have organized such fora in the USA where they presented these voices of oppression and exploitation to the community that forms the stakeholder and stockholders of Coca Cola.

Merideth, a member of USWA, spoke about the various unethical policies and activities of Coca Cola globally, touching on issues in Africa, in South America, in Mexico, and in Asia.

Gerardo is a member of Sinaltrainal who is in the USA under political asylum because his life is threatened by paramilitary allegedly funded by Coca Cola. In one of the events in Minneapolis, he spoke about the threats various members of the union received as well as of the many members who were killed and then of the attempts to paint these dead men as guerilla, militia and ‘bad people’. He spoke about threats to their families and how some of them have been forced to live in exile.
Sanat, speaking for the campaign in Mehdiganj, India, described the violence perpetrated on the campaign protesting Coca Cola’s activities by Coke personnel as well as local administration. He spoke of the dropping water levels, of decreasing potability of water in the area as well as Coke’s corrupt practices pointing out that given their clout, they are able to get away with these practices, often.

Members in the audience also pointed out policies by Coca Cola and Pepsi that have affected springs in the USA, nutritional habits among children as well as their efforts to mute organizations – like the WHO - whose work has seemed to threaten their own practices.

Most importantly, the international day of campaign against Coke continues to highlight the fact that the problems Coca Cola has with a large number of communities in the world are not aberrations; they form the norm arising from highly exploitative and corrupt policies that form the foundation of this company.

- Sanat Mohanty

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