Killer Coke
A Never-ending Story of Exploitation, Greed, Lies, Cover-ups and Complicity in Kidnapping, Torture, Murder and other Gross Human Rights Abuses

University of California Santa Cruz, A Bill in Support of Coca-Cola Corporate Responsibility

A Bill in Support of Coca-Cola Corporate Responsibility

WHEREAS: In January, 2000, the University of California established a new Code of Conduct for Trademark Licensees (hereafter "Code of Conduct"), which requires all companies with whom the University maintains trademark licensing arrangements to adhere to basic labor and human rights standards;

WHEREAS: the Code of Conduct, created with substantial student input, is one of the strongest policies of its kind in the country and has already been used effectively to improve sweatshop working conditions in numerous countries;

WHEREAS: various campuses of the University of California system have entered contracts with The Coca-Cola Company, which allow Coca-Cola to sell its products on campus and use the University's name and image in marketing;

WHEREAS: credible reports by journalists and human rights organizations have documented extraordinarily serious labor rights abuses in facilities producing Coca-Cola products in Colombia, including the kidnapping, torture, and assassination of workers involved in trade union activism.

WHEREAS: these human rights abuses violate the letter and the spirit of the University's Code of Conduct and all other principles of social responsibility that the University avows; be it

RESOLVED: The Student Union Assembly send a letter to Chancellor Martin M. Chemers and other campus officials charged with overseeing the University's contract with Coca-Cola, encouraging them to act swiftly to ensure that the University's Code of Conduct is enforced with vigilance and that the University re-evaluate its relationship with Coca-Cola in light of the company's human rights record; be it further

RESOLVED: The Student Union Assembly External Affairs Vice-President send a letter to Coca-Cola C.E.O. Douglas Daft requesting an accounting of the situation in Colombia and asking that Coca-Cola:

  • Denounce the violence that is occurring in the name of Coca-Cola in Colombia.
  • Respect the fundamental rights to free association and to organize trade unions, as reflected in Colombian law, Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights, as well as Conventions 87 & 88 of the International Labor Organization.
  • Announce publicly in Colombia its intention to participate in an investigation of the violence at its bottling plants.
  • Reinforce Coca-Cola's public stance against violence by directing all bottling plants in Colombia to stop dealing with any armed groups that are participating in violence against trade unionists.
  • Establish a complaint and reporting process which will allow union members to report violations occurring in Coca-Cola bottling plants to an official of the company who will then investigate and take swift remedial action against these violations.
  • Provide compensation to the known victims of violence at Coca-Cola bottling plants.