| Coke banned by Univ. of Michigan; asked to resolve allegations |
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ANN ARBOR, Michigan: The University of Michigan yesterday banned the sale of Coca Cola products on its three campuses saying it was prompted by the company’s malpractices overseas.
There have been allegations that Coca Cola violated human rights in Colombia with questionable labor practices and in India it was accused of environmental abuse. The story made headlines prompting the U-M among others to halt purchase of the company’s products.
The ban will become effective January 1 onwards at the U-M’s main Ann Arbor Campus and the Dearborn and Flint campuses. As long as previously purchased stocks last, the soft drinks will be available on the vending machines after which they will be shut down.
The U-M was among the company’s top university buyers of its products; this year it had ordered Coca Cola products worth $1.4m. The U-M will not renew the contract, it said. Earlier this month the company faced a similar ban from New York University which has more than 50,000 students.
Some universities are increasingly being persuaded by student activists to ban the company’s products from their campuses in protest over the alleged violence towards unionised employees in Colombia. Coca Cola was asked to allow an investigation which it refused saying the terms were unacceptable. Two Colombia bottlers along with the company were accused of the anti-union violence by the International Labor Rights Fund, a group of labor activists. The group said the company was hiring right-wing death squads to intimidate unionised workers at the two bottling facilities.
In India, environmental groups said the company was draining water tables and causing drought conditions to worsen.
The U-M is one among many universities in a committee that issued an ultimatum to Coca Cola to resolve the allegations within a deadline.
The company protested that the deadline was too tight and believed that its bottlers were not involved in the anti-union violence in Colombia. It also tried to defend its position on India saying there was no evidence to prove the environmentalists allegations over the ground water problem.
Posted
on : Mon, 02 Jan 2006 08:15 GMT | General News
By : Mike Lawson
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