Home--News
Coca-Cola Exploits Workers, Students Say
By Cui Jia
China Daily
August 20, 2009
A university student who got a temporary job at Coca-Cola this summer
through an employment agency is taking the soft-drink bottler to court,
after he was beaten by staff members at the agency.
He is alleging that Coca-Cola showed poor management by hiring agencies
that exploit workers.
He said he was beaten by staffers at the agency after he demanded
pay for his work at Coca-Cola.
Along with three other university students, the 21-year-old student
surnamed Liang from Tianjin was sent to Zhongcui Food Co., Ltd, a
Coca-Cola bottling factory based in Hangzhou, after signing a contract
with the Deqingzhiqiang employment agency in July this year.
The students' summer jobs were actually part of an undercover project
to investigate the working conditions in Coca-Cola's plants.
The project was organized by a group of university students who published
a report on the Internet last year on Coca-Cola's bottling factories.
The students claimed that Coca-Cola turns a blind eye to illegal actions
by their employment agencies and bottlers.
The students who worked at Coca-Cola this summer declined to give
their full names or say what university they attend.
"A manager at the agency asked us to sign a contract stating that
we will be paid the minimum wage of Hangzhou, which is 5.7 yuan (83
US cents) an hour," Liang told China Daily yesterday. "But at the
same time, he told us that we will only be paid 55 yuan for a day
and we have to work 12 hours a day. We wonder how much Coca-Cola pays
for the agency."
Zhen Zhiqiang, the agency's manager, said that the students are paid
the minimum wage of Hangzhou and the students' claim that they were
paid less than the minimum wage is not true.
The majority of the workers in the factory are temporary workers who
are given no basic training when they start work, Liang said.
"Unlike the factory's full-time staff, we were given no protective
gear such as gloves and ear plugs. We are also paid far less than
them," Liang said. "Coca-Cola was seriously infringing the rights
of agency workers by its poor management over the employment agencies
and their factories."
Liang and the other university students quit their jobs on Aug 8 and
were promised they would be paid on Aug 14. But when Liang went to
the agency office on Aug 12 to confirm the paydate, he was beaten
up by the agency staff, he said.
Officials at Coca-Cola in China said the dispute does not involve
Coca-Cola.
"We are very sorry about what happened to Liang, but the conflict
is strictly between Liang and the employment agency. The bottling
factory and Coca-Cola are not aware of the situation," Zhai Mei, the
associate external affairs director of Coca-Cola China, told China
Daily yesterday.
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 its employment agencies, according
to a statement released yesterday by Coca-Cola.
"We are continuing our internal investigations and if we find any
violations of our labor policies, we will correct them," Zhai added.
Liang is taking the Deqingzhiqiang employment agency to court over
the pay dispute and he will also sue Coca-Cola for being ignorant
about the practices of their employment agencies and subcontractors.
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. India Resource Center is making this article available in our efforts to advance the understanding of corporate accountability, human rights, labor rights, social and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
|