In recent years, there has been considerable public interest in The
Coca-Cola Company’s operations in Colombia. Allegations about our
business there were the subject of a 2001 lawsuit filed against The
Coca-Cola Company and two Coca-Cola bottlers in Colombia in a US
District court in Miami. The Coca-Cola Company was dismissed from the
lawsuit in 2003. On September 29, 2006 the court dismissed all
remaining cases against the two Coca-Cola bottlers in Colombia.
The court also denied plaintiffs’ motion to amend the complaints to
bring The Coca-Cola Company back into the lawsuit and directed the
clerk to close the cases.
We are gratified by Judge Martinez’ decision to dismiss the cases. We
reaffirm our belief that the claims in the suit filed against The
Coca-Cola Company and the two bottlers in Colombia are inaccurate and
based on distorted versions of events.
This most recent ruling follows two different inquiries in Colombia –
one in a Colombian Court, and one by the Colombian Attorney General’s
office – that found no evidence to support the claim that bottler
management conspired with paramilitaries to threaten or intimidate
Colombian trade unionists.
We hope this new decision will now enable us to put this case behind us
as we continue to focus on working constructively to ensure the rights
and safety of Coca-Cola workers in Colombia and worldwide. We are open
to discussions with everyone who shares a commitment to finding
constructive solutions to workplace issues in areas of conflict around
the world.
We will continue our dialogue with important trade union federations
such as the IUF, the CUT (the United Workers’ Confederation in
Colombia), and other trade union federations. Additionally, our support
for the United Nations Global Compact is a formal expression of The
Coca-Cola Company’s commitment to conduct our business with the utmost
respect for universal principles around human rights, workplace
standards, responsible environmental practices and anti-corruption.
Many stakeholders are now working constructively with us to bring
together business, government and the NGO community and seek real and
lasting solutions to the ongoing violence in Colombia. Part of this
dialogue includes our sponsorship and participation in
multi-stakeholder conferences being convened by the International
Business Leaders Forum to further understand how business can promote
peace in Colombia. A public report is being issued from the conferences.
The International Labor Organization, a specialized multilateral
organization within the United Nations which is responsible for
establishing international labor standards, agreed to conduct an
independent and impartial investigation and evaluation of the labor
relations and workers’ rights practices of Coca-Cola bottlers in
Colombia. The Coca-Cola Company and the Coca-Cola bottlers in
Colombia will cooperate fully with the ILO assessment team and we are
committed to moving forward with the assessment regardless of the
decision of the Miami Federal District Court.
Last June the Colombian government, business community and unions
reached a historic agreement to establish a permanent ILO office in
Colombia. Since late July 2006, the ILO has taken a holistic approach
to Colombia, placing a priority on establishing the office before
conducting our assessment. As a consequence, there has been a delay in
the start date of the assessment. In view of these circumstances,
we expect that the ILO assessment will be conducted sometime between
the fourth quarter of 2006 and the first quarter of 2007, depending on
how soon the overall framework of the ILO office and activities in
Colombia has been finalized with the Colombian Government.
