Coca-Cola 'abused workers' rights'

By Hu Yinan (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-16 07:36

Coca-Cola has come under fire after a private investigation accused it of "serious infringement" of the rights of its dispatched workers in China.

"These employees are involved in the most dangerous, intense and tiresome labor, work the longest hours, but receive the lowest wage and face arrears with and even cutbacks on their pay," said a 28-page report written by seven university students after a month of participatory research and released in Beijing on Sunday.

They collected the information between July and August while working in Coca-Cola's bottlers in Guangzhou, Dongguan and Huizhou in Guangdong province, as well as the company's suppliers in Shanghai and Hangzhou in Zhejiang province.

They claimed they collected the information from fellow dispatched workers.

A significant body of dispatched labor and other non-contracted workers exists in the company's China branch, their report said.

It accused the company of exploiting the workers - some of whom worked more than 100 hours of overtime per month, above the 36 hour maximum stipulated by law - paid them the minimum wage and gave them few rights.-

Dispatched workers are employed by agencies, which send them to fill "temporary, supporting or replaceable positions", according to Clause 66 of the Labor Contract Law.

Zhai Mei, associate external affairs director of Coca-Cola China, said yesterday the company is "pretty confident" of dealing with the problem.

"The students never came into direct contact with us, and their research may not have been comprehensive," she said.

In a statement released last night, Coca-Cola China denied the report's claims, saying the company and its bottlers not only "strictly comply with the laws and regulations regarding labor practices", but also "have strict supplier guiding principles" for vendors and suppliers.

"Our bottlers have not been contacted by the student group, and thus were not able to provide the full perspective of the issues raised in the report," the statement said.

The company said it initiated an investigation as soon as it learned about the report. According to the Coca-Cola investigation, "the allegations raised in the report are unfounded".

"We are continuing our internal investigations and if we find any violation of our labor policies we will correct them," the statement claimed.

The students' report concludes by demanding the multinational corporation "apologizes to the Chinese people and its dispatched workers".

It also called on people to stop drinking Coca-Cola beverages until the company takes the action.

The report will be sent to both the All China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) and Coca-Cola China, the students said on Sunday.