The Coca-Cola Co has reiterated that there is no link between the firm and acts of violence allegedly committed against union leaders and family members of its drinks bottlers in Guatemala.
On 25 February, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of eight plaintiffs in the Supreme Court of the State of New York against the US soft drinks giant and its processing and bottling plants in Guatemala.
It is understood that the allegations were brought about following years of disputes between workers and their employers with regards to “jobs, trade unions and their lives”.
Three general secretaries of their union were murdered, five workers were killed, and four were kidnapped and have “disappeared”, according to reports.
Angela Harrell, media relations director for Coca-Cola Co, said that many of the allegations within the complaint are “quite stale”, with many of them going back as far as 2005.
“We maintain as we always have that there is no truth to their allegations – that the Coca-Cola bottler in Guatemala was involved in violence towards the plaintiff, or their families. The Coca-Cola Co. has no knowledge of their involvement in these alleged actions,” Harrell told just-drinks.
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By GlobalData“We take all concerns about our work practices seriously. It has been an ongoing dialogue and constructive engagement with the bottler in Guatemala, with the IUF and other international and local labour unions, so we absolutely reaffirm our labour right, our opposition to all forms of violence and we continue to be willing to work with IUS and other unions to address the different workplace issues in connection with our global operations,” she insisted.
The court case, for which no date has yet been set, has been brought to New York State because the plaintiffs believe they lack access to an independent and functioning legal system within Guatemala, reports have suggested.
“We see the move of the venue as blatant forum shopping to be quite honest and to some extend a misuse of the US judicial system,” Harrell said.
“I can’t speculate as to what may come of the court case. Obviously we will continue to maintain our position in terms of having no involvement or knowledge of what happened in the complaint.
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