From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai)
Subject: PEPSICO -- Busing Unions & Supporting Repressive Regimes
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: daemon@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: misc.activism.progressive on UseNet ; ACTIV-L@UMCVMB
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 05:47:00 GMT

[Via misc.activism.progressive]

    From PeaceNet's apc.labor, from and Editorial from IUF News
    Bulletin - No. 5-6 - 1992 of the International Union of Food and
    Allied Workers' Associations
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Topic 195       PEPSICO - BUILDING BRIDGES OR BUSTI 
hrcoord apc.labour       2:34 pm  Aug  8, 1992 
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From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord> 
Subject: PEPSICO - BUILDING BRIDGES OR BUSTI 
/* Written  2:14 pm  Aug  3, 1992 by gn:geonet in cdp:geo2.its */ 

***********************************************
PepsiCo - "Building Bridges" or Busting Unions? 
***********************************************

As  we go to press, a majority of trade union members  at  Smiths 
Crisps,  a UK snack foods subsidiary of PepsiCo, have  voted  for 
industrial  action in response to a series of  provocative  anti- 
union moves by company management. The conflict was triggered  on 
May  28,  when the company announced, on the opening day  of  na 
tional negotiations with trade union officials representing union 
members  at four plants, that they were unilaterally  terminating 
national negotiations. Management stated their intention to  move 
to  plant  level bargaining, and then declared  the  negotiations 
closed. 

When  the union negotiating team, headed by Brian Revell,  Acting 
National  Secretary  of the Transport and General  Workers  Union 
(TGWU),  requested  an  adjournment to  contact  members  at  the 
plants,  they discovered that Smiths had blocked the use  of  the 
hotel telephones to keep the news from reaching the factories. 
Smiths'  anti-union  maneuvers  are not  an  isolated  exception. 
Management  at  Walkers Crisps, PepsiCo's other  UK  snack  foods 
subsidiary,  moved earlier this year to unilaterally  reduce  the 
number  of elected shop stewards from 25 to 9. This was  followed 
by a notice to employees inciting them to leave the union. 

Aggressive anti-union policies have in fact become  distressingly 
familiar to PepsiCo workers around the globe. In the  Philippines 
and South Africa, to name two recent examples, trade unionists on 
strike at PepsiCo's Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) franchises  have 
been  compelled  to  fend off armed vigilante  attacks  on  union 
offices and picket lines (see NB 1-2 and 3-4/1992). 

PepsiCo's  corporate  irresponsibility extends  to  international 
investment policy. The company remains the only TNC in our sector 
willing  to do business with the military dictatorship in  Burma, 
whose bloody reign has established itself among the worst  viola 
tors  of human rights in the world today. PepsiCo has  apparently 
found  the business climate in Burma so congenial that plans  are 
underway  to double the scale of its operations there -in  direct 
partnership with a hand-picked crony of the ruling junta. 

The  National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma,  repre 
senting  the parliament elected by a huge majority of  voters  in 
1990  and subsequently forced underground, has repeatedly  called 
for  an  end to foreign investment in the country  pending  demo 
cratic  civilian  rule. This call has been supported by  the  re 
pressed free trade union movement, organized in the Federation of 
Trade  Unions of Burma (FTUB), and by every  major  international 
trade union organization, including the International Trade  Sec 
retariats and the ICFTU. 

PepsiCo,  however, claims to know what is best for the people  of 
Burma.  In response to IUF queries concerning its investments  in 
that  country, the company's public affairs director,  one  Barry 
Holt, has now informed us that "immediate economic gain is rarely 
a  consideration...or  even a possibility...for PepsiCo.  In  the 
case  of  Burma, our decision as a corporation is guided  by  our 
firm  belief that trade is one of the best ways to build  bridges 
of  understanding between people - bridges which help open  lines 
of  communication,  find common ground, stimulate  dialogue,  and 
thus  bring people and their nations closer together and  ultima 
tely toward world peace." 

We think otherwise. PepsiCo's proclaimed commitment to  "building 
bridges"  in Burma is of a piece with their union bashing in  the 
UK, the Philippines, South Africa, and elsewhere. The rhetoric is 
a smokescreen for the corporation's relentless pursuit of profit, 
and  for its contemptuous disregard for the legal and social  en 
vironment in which it operates. 

PepsiCo,  with worldwide operations in soft drinks,  snacks,  and 
fast  foods, is a major player in the international food  proces 
sing  and catering industries. Squeezed by global  recession  and 
fastincreased  competition, it has responded with the most  primitive 
of  corporate  reflexes: attacking the unions, and  investing  in 
repressive regimes. Left unchecked, this behavior can only spread 
to  local managements which have previously  enjoyed good  indus 
trial relations, and erode union-management relations  throughout 
the  sector.  It has an equally corrosive effect on  trade  union 
efforts  to enforce standards of corporate responsibility,  which 
include,  at a minimum, respect for human and democratic  rights, 
for  full trade union rights as set out in international  Conven 
tions, and for the environment. 

"Dialogue"  in Burma can only take place with the elected  repre 
sentatives  of the people, not with a clique of butchers  propped 
up by foreign investors and arms merchants. "Building bridges" in 
industrial relations must likewise begin with the affirmation  of 
basic  trade union rights. For starters,  corporate  headquarters 
might  insist  that local managements abandon  their  strong  arm 
tactics and take seriously the notion of collective bargaining in 
good faith. 

The  IUF won't be nominating PepsiCo for this year's Nobel  Peace 
Prize.  Rather, we will be mobilizing our members to ensure  that 
responsible corporate conduct, rather than cynical ploys, becomes 
PepsiCo policy throughout its worldwide operations. 

*          *          *          * 

Editorial from IUF News Bulletin - No. 5-6 - 1992 

International Union of Food and Allied Workers' Associations 
(IUF) 
Rampe du Pont Rouge 8 
CH - 1213 Petit Lancy 
Switzerland 
tel: +41 22 7932233 
fax: +41 22 7932238 
Dan Gallin 
General Secretary 

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