Coca-Cola Sued in U.S.
by Guatemalans Over Anti-Union Violence
By Patricia Hurtado
(Bloomberg) - Coca-Cola Co. was sued by
Guatemalan workers who say they endured a
“campaign of violence” by people working on
behalf of bottling and processing plants
Coke owns or owned there after they engaged
in union activities.
Jose Armando Palacios of Guatemala and eight
other plaintiffs filed the complaint Feb. 25
in New York State Supreme Court in
Manhattan, alleging negligence, deceptive
practices and other claims against
Coca-Cola, the world’s biggest soda maker.
The plaintiffs said they were the victims of
violence and retaliation by individuals
associated with Industria de Café SA, or
Incasa, which operates an instant coffee and
Coca-Cola bottling plant in Guatemala City.
The plaintiffs said Incasa “is or was
previously owned by Coca-Cola.”
“Incasa is Coke’s agent,” the plaintiffs
said in the lawsuit. “At the time of the
events alleged, Coke knew or was
substantially certain that it and its
bottlers were doing business in an
environment in Guatemala where their
unionized workers were at great risk of
being tortured and/or killed by groups
responsible for violence against trade
unionists in Guatemala.”
Kerry Kerr, a spokeswoman for Atlanta-based
Coca-Cola, declined to comment on the
lawsuit, saying the company hadn’t received
a copy of the complaint. She said yesterday
in an e-mail that, while Incasa is
independently owned, Coca-Cola has a
minority share in the business.
Saul Arriega, who identified himself as a
supervisor at Incasa’s offices in Guatemala,
said he wasn’t aware of the lawsuit and
declined to comment further.
The plaintiffs, according to the complaint,
were engaged in union organizing, recruiting
and collective bargaining.
Shootings, Threats
Palacios, an Incasa employee for 27 years
who worked as a security guard, said he quit
a company-based union in 1991. He said he
received threats and that there were
multiple attempts on his life after he
re-joined the union in January 2004.
On June 18, 2004, two men shot at him
several times from the plant’s parking lot,
Palacios said in the complaint. He said his
family members were the victims of a home
invasion in April 2005 in which two armed
men threatened to kill his son and wife if
he continued his union activities. He was
fired without cause in May 2005, he said.
After he sought assistance from the
International Union of Food Workers in
December 2005, Incasa representatives told
him he would receive protection from
Coca-Cola only if he accepted his discharge
from Incasa and waived reinstatement,
Palacios said.
Man Shot
On Jan. 28, 2006, the day after he refused
reinstatement, another attempt was made on
his life, he said. This time, another man
was shot in front of his home. He said he
fled Guatemala for the U.S. and that he
couldn’t take legal action until his family
was safely out of Guatemala.
Another Incasa employee, Jose Vincente
Chavez, was threatened by the company’s
management during collective bargaining
negotiations, the plaintiffs said in the
complaint. After he was summoned in March
2008 to a meeting on union- related
business, his family was attacked by armed
men, Vincente said. His son, Dennys Alberto
Vincente Santiago, and nephew were killed,
he said in the complaint.
Terrence Collingsworth, a lawyer for the
plaintiffs, said Vincente remains in
Guatemala and fears he may face more
violence in retaliation for joining the
lawsuit.
Guatemalan Courts
The plaintiffs said in the complaint that
they filed the lawsuit in New York because
Coca-Cola has offices there and because
remedies in Guatemala are “inadequate and
would not afford the complete relief”
available in U.S. courts.
“Coca-Cola has done more misrepresenting of
their record in the state of New York than
anywhere else,” Collingsworth said yesterday
in a phone interview. “Coke assures the
public and investors they have told their
bottlers and suppliers to comply with
international human rights standards and yet
they will say in court they have nothing to
do with these bottlers and can’t control
them.”
Collingsworth of Conrad & Scherer in
Washington “specializes in litigating cases
that seek to hold multinational firms
accountable for human rights violations in
their global operations,” according to the
law firm’s Web site. Companies that he has
sued include Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Exxon
Mobil Corp. and Chiquita Brands
International Inc., according to the Web
site. |
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