Today SACOM issues this open statement in order to raise wider awareness
about the plights of tens of thousands of subcontracted workers in
Coca-Cola bottlers in China.

On the 12^th of August 2009, a labor dispatch company hired by
Coca-Cola’s designated Hangzhou-based bottling plant was discovered to
have threatened two university student-workers who asked for their own
and their two other fellow workers’ backpay upon their resignation. Xiao
Liang, 24, was beaten up by two managers at the labor dispatch company’s
office, resulting in serious wounds over his left eye, left hand, and
right ear. Xiao Xu sent Xiao Liang to the Dongfang Hospital immediately
after police arrived on the scene. Xiao Liang was later diagnosed with a
ruptured eardrum, resulting in compromised hearing capacity.

Despite their declared commitment to corporate responsibility,
Coca-Cola, the world’s largest beverage company, has never approached
the student-workers to explain wage arrears and use of violence.

As a socially responsible investor, Swire Beverages—holder of 44.6%
Hangzhou BC Foods Company (the Coca-Cola Bottling Plant) shares—should
advise Coca-Cola to review its illegal labor subcontracting practices in
Hangzhou and other cities in mainland China.

TAKE ACTIONS

An increasing number of legal scholars, teachers, students, labor
activists, Coke union members, Coke fans, and consumers at home and from
abroad have expressed their support to the struggling students and
Chinese workers.

Please show your solidarity with the workers by taking action today!

* *

ONLINE PETITION FOR JUSTICE WITH A STUDENT-WORKER COALITION

Sign now! Coke Concerned Student Group: http://followcoca.blog.163.com/

Download the press release here.

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Source: SACOM, 31 August 2009