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University of Michigan Rescinds Ban, Restocks Coke Machines

Posted on: Wednesday, 12 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

By Caroline Wilbert, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Apr. 12--Less than four months after a high-profile decision to ban Coca-Cola from campus, the University of Michigan is restocking its Coke machines.

Michigan is one of about 10 schools that quit buying Coke products because of concerns about the company's labor practices in Colombia. Michigan, however, is the only school so far to rescind the ban, following an announcement last month by Coke that the International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations, will conduct a third-party investigation of Coke's practices in Colombia.

"We respect the reputation and track record of ILO in advancing the rights of workers around the world," Timothy Slottow, executive vice president and chief financial officer at the University of Michigan, wrote in a letter to Coke, dated Tuesday.

"We have had independent conversations with representatives of ILO, and we are satisfied that their plans for proceeding with the Colombia investigation will be consistent with the goals of [the university's] dispute review board."

Also, figuring into Michigan's decision, Coke this week named a nonprofit organization, the Energy and Resources Institute, to investigate Coke's environmental practices in India, where the company has been criticized for water management policies. Details of the organization's investigative plans will be finalized by the end of the month, Coke said.

"We are supportive of your work with the Energy and Resources Institute, a highly respected nonprofit organization with more than 30 years of experience and leadership on sustainability," Slottow wrote in his letter.

For several years, student activists across the country have claimed Coke and its bottlers had something to do with violence against union organizers in Colombia, including the murder of a worker in a Coke plant in 1996. The company has denied the charges, but the issue keeps getting more attention, thanks to a well-organized, grass-roots organization called the Campaign to Stop Killer Coke that is led by longtime labor activist Ray Rogers.

The drumbeat got louder late last year when the University of Michigan and New York University announced plans to ban Coke. The schools said they wanted an independent investigation of what happened in Colombia. Though Coke said all along it was committed to participating in such an investigation, there was a sticking point: The company didn't want the findings to be admissible in a lawsuit filed in Miami by the International Labor Rights Fund on behalf of the Colombian workers. Coke has been dismissed from the suit, but its Colombian bottlers are still involved.

The legal issue now has been resolved because Coke has agreed to let ILO decide what will be made public and therefore be admissible, said Coke representative Kerry Kerr.

Slottow, from Michigan, said in his letter that he expects the "process will be transparent to us so we can be assured that it is thorough and independent."

On Tuesday, Rogers, the activist, dismissed the planned assessments in both India and Colombia as "public relations gimmicks."

Coke bans still are in place at NYU and a number of other schools.

"The university senate will certainly evaluate information as they receive it," said Josh Taylor, a spokesman at NYU.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

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