BY DAVID LAU

In print | April 6, 2006

At their Annual Conference held this past week, the National Union of Students, a voluntary membership organization in the United Kingdom with over 750 constituent members, voted to reject a motion to boycott Coca-Cola products. The organization represents five million students and student unions in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

“The student movement has a proud history of working with the labor movement and labor organizations, and we are proud that conference has taken the position of the Columbian TUC and other trade unions in the UK such as AMICUS to continue [the] process of constructive engagement with Coca Cola,” NUS President Kat Fletcher said in a press release.

A similar motion to withdraw from Coca-Cola enterprises was also discussed in 2005 but was rejected at that time as well. This motion fell by a fairly large majority as students voted to continue with the constructive engagement process that NUS Services Ltd (NUS’ commercial arm) and Coca-Cola have been engaged in.

The Swarthmore Kick Coke campaign responded to NUS’ rejection with some initial disappointment, but students said it was not a major blow to the group’s efforts. “As part of Kick Coke, I am disappointed but not disheartened,” Ruth Schultz ‘09 said. "[The motion] was a potential step forward in the campaign to cut contracts with Coke, and though the NUS did not take that step, student groups all over the UK are still working to put pressure on Coca-Cola to be held accountable for its environmental and labor rights abuses all over the world. I don’t see it as a setback, just a missed opportunity."

A Coca-Cola representative endorsed the decision by NUS to reject the motion, saying that more evidence was needed in order to back up the allegations made against Coke. “The allegations against the company are not fact-based but rather many students have made up their minds instead of really digging deep into the situation,” said Pablo Largacha, Coca-Cola Director of Public Affairs and Communications.

Largacha, a Colombian, has worked for Coke in Columbia for the past 10 years. He added that the NUS philosophy of working with Coke to further investigate the allegations was more useful than the boycott. “For almost two years, the company has been in very close contact with NUS regarding the allegations of labor practices in Columbia and environmental practices in India,” Largacha said.

NUS’ approach maintains that the boycott is not an adequate way to address the problem of violence in Columbia. He said we should engage in a collaborative mode or try to understand what’s behind the allegations and proactively address the problem.

Largacha also noted that Coca-Cola should not be responsible for shouldering all of the blame. “People should recognize that this is something Coca-Cola cannot address, and it is something that the local government should be addressing. Coca-Cola has been working with NGOs, multinational organizations and trade unions at the local level to try to find ways to improve the situation,” he said.

Coca-Cola recently asked the International Labor Organization to conduct an assessment of labor practices in Columbia and had donated $10 million to start the Columbia Fund for Education and Opportunity, which would address education and job creation in communities that had been hit hardest by the violence in Columbia, Largacha said.

In the end, however, Largacha maintained that the best way for students to get involved was to work with Coke to find a solution to the problem. “A boycott will not help workers in Columbia,” he said. “Students have to dig deeper and join efforts with the company to address the problems.”

Despite the setback in their multinational campaign, Kick Coke at Swarthmore is nevertheless preparing for a busy end to the school year. “Our main activity right now is that we are organizing students to go to the Coca-Cola shareholder’s meeting,” Schultz said. “It will be held in Wilmington on April 19.”

In addition, members of Kick Coke groups from around the nation will be holding a protest outside of the meeting to continue to raise awareness for the labor problems in Columbia. “There will be students and organizations from all over the country,” Schultz said. “We will meet, exchange ideas and learn from lots of students and organizers who are also working to hold Coke accountable.”

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