Coca-Cola Continues to Oppose Union Organization in Russia

Posted to the IUF website 18-Sep-2003

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On 8 August we reported that Viktor Grachev , a Coca-Cola union leader at the Moscow bottler, had been reinstated to his job and would receive two years' back pay in compensation for his unjust dismissal for leading a union organizing drive.

Coca-Cola management publicly announced that it would respect the court decision. Viktor reported to work. However he received only 15.000 rubles out of the total 350.000 rubles he was owed.

On 9 September Viktor received notification from the Moscow city court that Coca-Cola management had submitted an appeal for the reconsideration of its 18 July court decision. The application for reconsideration submitted on 14 August was signed by Coca-Cola HBC Eurasia Moscow director V.Olaffson.

At stake is a new attempt by Coca-Cola to get rid of the chief organizer of the Moscow Coke union, and thereby discourage the growing numbers of workers who are joining the union. The company has even demanded that Viktor pay back the partial payment it had made him and insisted that he pay the costs of the company's appeal!

Coke's intransigence may be explained by its opposition to the growing interest in unionization among Coke workers in Russia, prompted by publication of the initial success at the Moscow Coke bottler in the trade union paper Solidarnost.

For the IUF it is unacceptable that Coca-Cola HBC (a large anchor bottler with headquarters in Greece that bottles and distributes Coke throughout Central and Eastern Europe) continues to resist union organization at Russian Coke facilities. The IUF is committed to supporting union organization at Coke facilities in Russia and throughout the world.