Coca-Cola: Global Accountability

Various groups are seeking to pressure the Coca-Cola Company to take responsibility for the treatment of Coke workers at the company's bottlers and franchise operators around the world. While Coca-Cola has significant direct investment in most of its bottlers and exercises significant control over production operations (e.g. product quality), Coca-Cola says it is not responsible for how workers are treated by its "independent" bottlers. Coca-Cola's position stands in stark contrast to that of U.S. apparel companies or Chiquita, which have adopted policies recognizing that they can and should be held responsible for the treatment of workers who produce their products even at independent suppliers.

Campaign and Lawsuits 

The campaign, led on college campuses in the U.S. by USAS, and a lawsuit filed by the Steelworkers and the International Labor Rights Fund against Coca-Cola and its bottlers in response to violence against Coke workers in Colombia have generated significant publicity about the issue of Coca-Cola's corporate responsibility.

Global Agreement

The International Union of Foodworkers (IUF) has called on Coca-Cola to negotiate and sign a global worker rights agreement with its unions that would cover all of Coca-Cola's operations, including its bottlers. The principles of a global worker rights agreement are a core demand of the campaign against Coca-Cola.

In March 2003, the IUF convened Coca-Cola unions from around the world in a two-day meeting in New York City to determine how to proceed with a global agenda with Coke.

Shareholder Efforts

In April 2002, the Christian Brothers, which own stock in the Coca-Cola Company, worked with the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility to present a resolution calling on Coke to adopt a global "code of conduct." Representatives from Coca-Cola unions in Colombia, Guatemala, Zimbabwe, the Philippines, and the U.S., led by the Teamsters, joined together in a powerful display of problems afflicting Coke workers around the world. The resolution was rejected, as such resolutions routinely are, but demonstrated growing concerns regarding Coca-Cola's social responsibility. ICCR and the Christian Brothers are continuing to press Coca-Cola to adopt a higher standard of corporate responsibility.