Letter to Coke concerning PT United Can Company in Indonesia
United Students Against Sweatshops
April 3, 2006
Ed Potter
Direct of Global Labor Relations, Coca-Cola Company
PO Box 1734
Atlanta, GA 30301
April 3, 2006
Mr. Potter,
I am writing on behalf of United Students Against Sweatshops about a
case that we have been engaging the Coca-Cola company on since July 28,
2005 with no substantive response as of yet.
PT United Can Company in Indonesia produces cans for products such as
Coca-Cola, Sprite and Fanta. PT UCC management has been engaging in a
serious anti-union campaign against the 1500 workers at the factory for
over a year. Thirteen workers have been fired and others intimidated by
management in an effort to prevent the expression of the internationally
recognized right to freely associate.
On December 12, 2005, the Coca-Cola company conducted an audit of the
PT UCC factory. It is our understanding that this audit was conducted
by Coke partially in response to concerns USAS and the PT UCC trade union
had raised with Coke regarding the workplace conditions, in particular
to the case of 13 illegally terminated employees. We are greatly disappointed
that to date no information regarding the audit findings or recommended
follow-up actions has been shared with the PT UCC trade union, employees
in general at the factory, nor the public. More importantly, there have
been no signs of any actions being taken to address the concerns raised
by the union since Coke’s audit, in fact, conditions are worsening.
Every day we receive further news of workers being denied their legal
sick leave, bereavement leave, access to healthcare and compensation for
work-related injuries, abuse of the contract labor system, and innumerous
cases of harassment and intimidation to union employees. Coke must move
swiftly to address these issues. Furthermore, it is important that Coke’s
audit process be done in a transparent way that allows workers to understand
what is happening with the process- as many of them have their lives and
jobs on the line. USAS strongly urges the Coca-Cola company to release
publicly the results of the audit in English and Bahasa Indonesia and
to follow-up with PT UCC management immediately concerning the deplorable
working conditions and illegal actions taken against the union.
As a part of the Coca-Cola supply chain, Coca-Cola is responsible for
ensuring that PT UCC management cease all methods of union busting immediately
and respect freedom of association. Below are the steps that USAS and
worker representatives believe that Coca-Cola should require that PT UCC
take to continue as a supplier:
- Recognition of the Union: PT. UCC Management must immediately recognize
PTP GSBI PT. UCC as a legitimate representative of employees at the factory.
PTP GSBI PT. UCC has been legally registered with the West Jakarta Ministry
of Labor in accordance with Indonesian law.
- Stop all Forms of Union Harassment and Intimidation: Top managers in
PT. UCC should take all appropriate steps necessary to assure that managers
and supervisors on all levels understand that harassment and intimidation
of union leaders, members, and individuals attempting to affiliate with
the union will not be tolerated. Management must take concrete steps to
stop all forms of intimidation and pressure that members and leaders of
PTP GSBI PT. UCC are currently facing.
- Management Policy on Freedom of Association: One of the concrete steps PT. UCC management can take to bring an end to the intimidation employees currently feel regarding exercising their right to freedom of association is to make a formal announcement (both written and verbal) to all employees that PT. UCC will respect their employees' right to freely associate with the union of their choosing, and that no employee will be sanctioned or receive any kind of demotion, intimidation, or discrimination of any kind from management if they choose to become a member of a union. This announcement should be read out loud by management to all employees, and posted widely throughout the factory in locations easy for employees to access and read freely.
- Reinstatement of 13 Union Leaders: The thirteen workers, all leaders
within the union, have clearly been dismissed in retaliation for expressing
their associational rights. In order to prevent further harm from being
done to these employees rights these employees should be offered reinstatement
immediately (regardless of whether they have received severance pay or
not).
Ed- there are some very grave violations in Coca-Cola’s supply chains-
some that will take years to remediate once there is a will to do so on
the part of the company. However, the workers in Indonesia are asking
for simple recognition of their legal union and reinstatement of workers
that were very clearly fired for distributing union literature. If the
Coca-Cola company cannot deal in a positive way with this case- how is
anyone to trust the program and ILO investigation that you are trying
to develop?
We expect that this case can be resolved by April 19.
Sincerely,
Jessica Rutter
cc: Neville Isdell, CEO Coca-Cola Company
Central Secretariate, GSBI, Indonesia
Glen Fichman, University of California
Larry Mann, University of Illinois
Tom Drexler, Depaul University
Dennis Poszywak, University of Michigan
Rick Van Brimmer, Ohio State University
Lon Moeller, University of Iowa
Jim Wilkerson, Duke University
Jeff Hermanson, Solidarity Center
Terry Collingsworth, International Labor Rights Fund
Dan Kovalik, United Steelworkers
Javier Correa Suarez, SINALTRAINAL, Colombia
Ray Rogers, Corporate Campaigns, Inc.
Scott Nova, Worker Rights Consortium
Amit Srivastava, India Resource Center
Michelle Peek, Campus Choice
Andy Higginbottom, UKSAC
Louise Richards, War on Want
Bryan Hirsch, Corporate Accountability International
United Students Against Sweatshops Students
