NYU might allow Coke back on campus

New York University officials are reviewing a recent report on labor practices at Coca-Cola bottling plants in Colombia to determine whether the university should lift a campus ban on the sale of Coke products.

NYU dropped Coke products in December 2005 from vending machines and other campus outlets. It was one of the more high-profile institutions to take action as a result of a broader effort by a labor activist group, Campaign to Stop Killer Coke.

The group says that Coca-Cola bottlers in Colombia have stifled union efforts, including using violence to intimidate union officials. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co. has turned a blind eye to these actions, it says.

Coca-Cola denies these allegations and points to several investigations that it says have found no wrongdoing by the company in Colombia.

Coca-Cola agreed in 2006 to have the International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, look at labor issues at its plants in Colombia. The ILO, which filed its report in October, did not find major labor rights violations.

The ILO report did raise concerns about outsourcing of jobs. While not illegal, outsourcing has weakened the ability of workers to organize to defend their interests, the report said.

NYU officials have received a copy of the ILO report, said Arthur Tannenbaum, chairman of the NYU Senate Public Affairs Committee. His committee was tasked with monitoring the issue when the campus ban was put in place in 2005.

Pending the outcome of the committee review, the full NYU Senate could vote this academic year on whether to rescind the ban, Tannenbaum said. The NYU Senate includes faculty, administration and students.

The NYU ban was not a crippling blow to Coke sales. NYU pulled Coke from about 80 to 100 vending machines on campus and a dozen dining facilities, Tannenbaum said. In densely packed New York City, Coke was still available in nearby off-campus stores and restaurants.

“You step off one block and into the next and you’re in Coca-Cola country,” Tannenbaum said.

NYU, though, realized its actions could have an impact because it’s in a major media center, he said. “We helped put the spotlight on Coca-Cola and made them think more seriously about getting a bonafide group such as the ILO,” Tannenbaum said.

Coca-Cola hopes the results of the report will satisfy the concerns of NYU and other colleges and universities, said Coca-Cola spokeswoman Kerry Kerr. Coca-Cola has circulated the report to 30 to 40 colleges and universities that had raised questions about this issue, she said.

The University of Michigan, another high-profile school that became involved in the issue, rescinded its ban on the sale of Coke products in 2006 when the investigation was commissioned. With the report completed, UM sent a letter to Coca-Cola in October saying it considered the matter resolved.

Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, though, remains unsatisfied, said Ray Rogers, the group’s director. Coca-Cola Chairman Neville Isdell said at a 2006 shareholders meeting that the ILO would look at previous and current labor conditions, but the report only looks at current practices, Rogers said.

“There’s no investigation of any of the things that led up to these allegations,” he said.

Rogers plans to continue his campaign at NYU and other colleges. He said his campaign has helped get Coke dropped at 52 colleges and universities. Coca-Cola says that number is inflated. It pegs the number at about 10.

“I’ve already been meeting with students over there (at NYU),” Rogers said. “We’re on top of this.”

The ILO report was never intended to investigate previous allegations, Kerr said. Two judicial inquiries in Colombia already have investigated those issues and found no evidence to support allegations that bottler management conspired to intimidate or threaten union members, she said.

NYU’s Tannenbaum said his committee will take Rogers’ critique of the report into consideration.