Successful Defense of Union Gains at Coca-Cola Colombian Bottler

Posted to the IUF website 11-Jul-2003

Share this article.



The Coca-Cola Workers Union at the Carepa bottler in Colombia (belonging to IUF affiliate SICO) made major gains in negotiating its second collective bargaining agreement in March 2002 (click here for background information.)

However at the end of 2002 plant management began to harass union members and officers through discriminatory job assignments and even dismissals.

SICO maintained considerable pressure on the local bottler and sought support from other trade unions in the Urab� region. Parallel to this the IUF and its Latin American Regional Secretariat organized protests and support from affiliates throughout Latin America and beyond. The IUF also contacted The Coca-Cola Company management directly to demand that these problems be resolved and that the local bottler respect the collective agreement in place.

SICO has recently reported considerable progress at the Carepa plant. The contracts of the two most anti-union managers and legal advisors were cancelled, and the company withdrew legal challenges to the rights of union officers and restored them to suitable jobs in the plant. The union reports that, subsequent to this, relations between the union and the company improved significantly and negotiations are continuing to finalize agreement on outstanding issues.

In support of the SICO members the IUF Global Meeting of Coca-Cola Workers' Unions in New York on 3-4 March 2003 had earlier passed the following resolution:

SOLIDARITY WITH SICO COCA-COLA WORKERS' UNION, COLOMBIA

We, the representatives of Coca-Cola workers' unions from throughout the world, meeting in New York 3-4 March 2003:

1. reject the anti-union policies and the dismissal of workers practiced by the Empresa Bebidas y Alimentos de Urab�, the Coca-Cola franchise in Carepa, Colombia.
2. support the actions taken in defense by the IUF-affiliated SICO union.
3. demand that the company respect the collective bargaining agreement.
4. support the interventions of the IUF general and regional secretariat in support of SICO.