Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola

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Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola is a lawsuit filed in 2001 by the Colombian trade union Sinaltrainal (National Union of Food Workers) in a Miami district court. Sinaltrainal alleges that Panamco, a Colombian Coca-Cola bottling company, assisted paramilitaries in murdering several union members. Even though the human rights violation occurred in Colombia, the union attempted to use the Alien Tort Claims Act to bring the case into a US district court. The ATCA grants U.S. courts jurisdiction in any dispute where it is alleged that a tort has been committed in violation of the “law of nations” or a treaty of the United States. [1]

In 2003, the Court removed The Coca-Cola Company as a defendant because the murder occurred outside the United States and was thus considered too far removed (physically and causally) from the company's Atlanta headquarters. The district court allowed the case to go forward against two Coca-Cola bottlers. Both the bottlers and the plaintiffs are currently appealing.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Legal case and aftermath

[edit] Miami lawsuit filed

In 2001 a lawsuit was filed in a Miami district court, demanding a monetary compensation for $500 million dollars. The suit asserted that paramilitary forces killed three workers, members of the National Union for Food Industry Workers who worked in the Coca Cola Bebidas y Alimentos plant in Carepa in northern Colombia.[2]

[edit] District court dismisses charges against The Coca-Cola Company and bottlers

On March 31, 2003, the US District Court dismissed charges against The Coca-Cola Company because the alleged wrongdoing either occurred in the United States but was too removed from the alleged injury or occurred abroad but did not have a substantial origin within the United States.[3] Federal Judge Jose E. Martinez allowed the case to go forward against two Coca-Cola bottlers: Bebidas y Alimentos and Panamerican Beverages, but not against Coke itself.[4] On September 4th, 2006, Judge Martinez dismissed the remaining claims against the two bottlers.[5]

[edit] "Killer Coke" Campaign is launched

A few months after the case, on April 16, 2003 Sinaltrainal union members launched the website killercoke.org,[6] which called for the boycott of Coke.

[edit] United Nations International Labour Organization Investigation

"Coca-Cola Co., the world’s largest soft-drink maker, asked a United Nations labor panel to conduct an independent investigation of its operations in Colombia amid accusations the company ignored violence against workers there."[7]

The neutrality of this investigation has been criticized on the basis that the U.S. delegate to the ILO, Ed Potter, is also Coca-Cola's global relations director.[8]

As of April 10, 2007, the ILO investigation is severely behind schedule. Although the investigation was initiated in April 2006, ILO offices in Colombia were not set up until December 2006.[9]

[edit] Timeline

Timeline of events [10]
1990s
1990
First bottling-plant worker in Colombia killed		 1994-1995

Three more workers killed.

 December 5, 1996

Isidro Gil killed by paramilitaries &
Union building burned down

 December 7, 1996

Paramilitaries gather workers and have them sign union resignations.
2000's
July 20, 2001

Lawsuit filed in Miami

 March 13, 2003

District Court judgement on Sinaltrainal v. Coca-Cola

 April 16, 2003

"Killer Coke" campaign is launched

 April 13, 2005

Coca-Cola commissioned study finds no Colombian anti-union violence

 December, 2005

The University of Michigan and New York University ban Coke products from their campuses. Bringing the number to over 23.[11]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^  Forero, Juan (July 26 2001). "Union Says Coca-Cola in Colombia Uses Thugs" ([dead link]). New York Times. 
  2. ^  Foust, Dean; Geri Smith, Elizabeth Woyke (January 23 2006). ""Killer Coke" Or Innocent Abroad? Controversy over anti-union violence in Colombia has colleges banning Coca-Cola". Business Week 3968: p. 46. 
  3. ^ Collingsworth, Terry (March 5, 2006). Another “Classic Coke” Move to Deny and Delay Accountability for Human Rights Violations in Colombia. International Labor Rights Fund. Retrieved on April 9, 2006. PDF file
  4. ^ Cohan, Jeffrey (April 29 2003). "Coke Targeted In Union Lawsuit Case Marks Unusual Effort To Aid Labor In Colombia". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: A–1. 
  5. ^  Unknown, Author (May 12 2003). "Coca-Cola avoids lawsuit over labor leader's murder". Civil RICO Report 19 (1). 

[edit] External links