A growing movement on campus is calling for Binghamton University to cancel its contract with Coca-Cola and for the company to be kicked off campus for good. In recent weeks students across campus have been passing out Killer Coke fliers, detailing crimes committed by the company in its Colombian bottling plants.
‘Coke’s a badass corporation. It was voted in the 10 worst corporations of the world by Multinational Monitor,’ said Richard Andrus, a professor of environmental studies who is involved in the organization.
BU’s contract with Coca-Cola guarantees the University a minimum of $200,000 a year in vending commission for granting the company exclusive rights to sell carbonated and non-carbonated beverages on campus.
‘There are college groups all over the country that have corporate-watch campaigns,’ said Meghan Shaughnessy, a member of the Killer Coke committee. ‘Some schools have successfully kicked Coke off campus; ultimately that is our goal.’
Lawsuits were filed against Coke in 2001 and 2006 by the International Labor Rights Fund and the United Steelworkers union on behalf of SINALTRAINAL, the union that represents workers in Colombia. These lawsuits state that Coca-Cola ‘contracted with or otherwise directed paramilitary security forces that utilized extreme violence and murdered, tortured, unlawfully detained or otherwise silenced trade union leaders.’
Coca-Cola is being charged with conspiring with Colombian authorities and gangs to threaten and kill Adolfo de Jesus Munera, a leader of the SINALTRAINAL trade union.
‘I’m sure there are many people that would strongly disagree with Coke’s practices if they knew the extent of it,’ Shaughnessy said. ‘The problem is that so many people have no idea and so many others know but don’t do anything about it.’
A letter detailing the New York-based organization’s complaints against Coca-Cola and signed by both students and faculty members will be sent to Bill Panco, director of vendor relations.
‘I personally became interested in this issue after taking Dick Andrus’s ENVI 101 class,’ Shaughnessy said. ‘He focuses a lot on corporations like ‘ Coke, that are not only in the wrong ethically ‘ as far as taking over small companies and exploiting workers and farmers in developing countries ‘ but also environmentally.’
Other complaints against Coca-Cola include pollution of water sources in India, using child labor in the sugar cane fields of El Salvador and continuing to operate in the Sudan despite the genocide in Darfur and U.S. sanctions prohibiting such actions. The company is also accused of fraudulent business practices such as discrimination against its workers, tax evasion and corporate welfare schemes where executives received millions of dollars in stocks while thousands of workers were laid off.
‘If other universities have been able to persuade their campus and faculty to keep Coke off campus, then why couldn’t SUNY Binghamton be a part of this fight?’ Shaughnessy said. ‘We need to speak out as a collective group of people that do not support a way of life in which the environment is raped and people are exploited.’