The Coca Cola Company are guilty of disregarding human and environmental welfare. Below is a concise list of the immoral activity the Coca Cola Company condone, something that we feel the university and the student union should boycott.


Coke are guilty of many human rights violations:

- Coke have a history of racism, from discrimination towards African Americans which Martin Luther King Jr. commented on, to their association with Nazi Germany (e.g. Invention of Fanta).

- The Coca Cola company, specifically the Coca Cola bottling plants, stand accused of hiring paramilitary mercenaries to assassinate union leaders in Columbia.

- Whether the accusation is true or not, the Coca Cola company has made no vocal opposition, and have made no actions to protect their employees and unions in Columbia.

- It is known that at least eight union leaders at Coca-Cola's Colombian bottling plants have been murdered between 1990 and 2002. Hundreds of other Coke workers have been tortured, kidnapped and/or illegally detained by violent paramilitaries, often working closely with plant managements.

- To date, there have been a total of 179 major human rights violations of Coca-Cola's workers, including nine murders. Family members of union activists have been abducted and tortured. Union members have been fired for attending union meetings. The company has pressured workers to resign their union membership and contractual rights, and fired workers who refused to do so.

- It has been testified by workers that paramilitary violence against workers was done with the knowledge of and likely under the direction of company managers. The physical access that paramilitaries have had to Coca-Cola bottling plants is impossible without company knowledge and/or tacit approval.

- The attack on union workers show a complete disregard on the side of the Coca Cola company to the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights Article 20, 1 - Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. - and Article 24, 4 - Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests

- They are also guilty of disregarding the Article 5 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights - No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

- This issue is not isolated to Columbia, though it is the most recent and consistent location of these human rights violations. In the 1970s mysterious deaths of Coca Cola bottlers that were affiliated with unions occurred in Guatemala. In India, Mr. V. Kamson mysteriously died after protesting against Coke on the grounds of concern for water depletion and pollution.

- Coke have been found to employ child labor on sugar cane fields in El Salvador.



Coke is not Green:

- Putting packaging and energy aside, Coke is still not a Green company. In fact, they are a major contribution to environmental damage.

- In India, Coke has been accused of depleting the local ground water table, using all the resources and not leaving any for local agriculture and villagers.
For some people this was their only source of water.

- The water that is available is of low quality due to pollution from the Coca Cola factories.

- Areas around factories are also found to be polluted with waste packaging.

- In India, pesticide levels in Coke's soft drinks have been found to be staggeringly high. These pesticides have been identified as contributors to cancer and weakening the immune system.

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We ask Bangor University and Bangor Student Union to

- Stop selling products made and distributed by The Coca Cola Company* in all cafeterias, vending machines, libraries, common rooms, shops, bars and anywhere on campus.

- To promote all Fairtrade products available on at the university, including Fairtrade Cola Ubuntu. The University has Fairtrade status, why not celebrate it and fully stock the products?

- If needed, replace all products made and distributed by The Coca Cola Company* that are sold on University property with alternative soda products, or perhaps try to promote a healthy lifestyle by providing water machines, or vending machines which sell ethical bottled water.



** All Coke variations, Barq's, Dasani water, Glacйau, Fanta, Fresca, Full Throttle, Fuze, Lift, Minute Maid, Oasis, Odwalla, Powerade, Pibb, Sprite, Tab, Thums Up, Urge, Vault, Inka Cola, products by Schweppes, and any other drink or foodstuff associated with The Coca Cola Company.