Students:
Click here to take action!
What's For
Breakfast?
It seems that over the
past five years, Coca Cola has lost control over product safety.
Coca Cola has not enforced strict controls over processing plants
producing its products despite a contamination scare that caused
Coke products to be banned in several European countries and a
string of recent recalls.
To read more, download
the Rats, Roaches and Recalls flier
in PDF format (Requires the
free Adobe Acrobat Reader).
When
It Comes to Juice, Pepsi Beats Coke to a Pulp
The following report
compares a Coca-Cola/Minute Maid processing plant in Auburndale,
Florida with a Pepsi/Tropicana plant in Bradenton, Florida, during
the period of 1996 to 2000. It was in 1996 that Coca-Cola turned
over control of juice operations, in Auburndale and Leesburg to
Cutrale, a Brazilian-owned juice company.
Recalls
Since Coca-Cola
outsourced its Auburndale, Florida juice production,
- Coca-Cola had three
separate juice recalls
- Pepsi had none
Safety
& Heath Violations
Coca-Cola
Since Coca-Cola outsourced its Auburndale, Florida, juice
production to Cutrale, the Occupation Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) cited the Minute Maid plant for 15
violations, including 13 determined to be "serious." OSHA
penalized the plant on 10 separate occasions for violations during
1999-2000. From 1997-1999 OSHA also leveled three citations
against Minute Maid's producer.
In the Auburndale
plant, there have been many serious accidents, including:
- an electrical
accident that killed a worker,
- explosions, and
- two major chemical
leaks that caused plant evacuations, shutdowns, worker
hospitalizations and complaints of air pollution.
Pepsi
During this same period of time, Pepsi's Tropicana plant received
no penalties from OSHA and had no explosions or chemical leaks.
Quality
Control
Since Coke outsourced
its juice plant to Cutrale, quality control has taken a dive. Just
look at the difference between Coca-Cola's Minute Maid and Pepsi's
Tropicana production.
| |
Coca-Cola's
Minute Maid |
Pepsi's Tropicana |
|
Operations |
Coca-Cola outsourced
operations to Cutrale in 1996 |
Pepsi owns and
operates the facility. |
|
Quality Control |
Coca-Cola has only one
auditor per shift; all other quality assurance technicians are
Cutrale employees or temporary workers. |
Pepsi has its own
quality control employees at the plant. |
|
Quality Control Checks |
Approx. once per hour.
Line cleaning approx. twice a week. Minute-Maid auditor: one
per week for whole plant. |
Quality control line
checks every 15 minutes. |
|
Rodent Control |
Rodent droppings have
been found on finished Minute Maid products and pigeon
droppings found on the production lines. Cutrale workers
report that there are traps but are unaware of a system of
maintaining pest control. |
Tropicana has
installed traps every ten feet throughout the production line. |
|
Food Safety
Inspections |
Since Coke turned over
operations, Cutrale failed both US Department of Agriculture
(USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspections. The
December 1999 FDA report cited 30 violations including filth
from floor buildup on food containers, flaky paint on ceilings
over tanks, and mold on ceilings and walls. |
During the same
period, Pepsi never failed FDA or USDA inspections. |
|
Sanitation |
Workers cite lack of
toilet paper and paper towels in restrooms. They say restrooms
and break rooms are unsanitary. |
Workers are satisfied
with supplies of toilet paper and paper towels in restrooms
and say the facility is sanitary. |
|
Training for key
positions such as blenders, evaporator operators and filler
operators |
5-10 days |
30-60 days |
|
Quality Assurance
Records |
Reports by workers
that Cutrale management has altered Quality Assurance records. |
No reports of Quality
Assurance records being altered. |
Employee Relations
Maintaining an
experienced and stable workforce is critical to maintaining high
quality control. Many of the workers who produce Coke's Minute
Maid and Pepsi's Tropicana products have been doing their jobs for
more than 20 years. Now Coke's producer is forcing experienced
workers to leave and replacing them with untrained temporary
workers.
| |
Coca-Cola's
Minute Maid |
Pepsi's Tropicana |
|
Medical Coverage |
Workers pay
approximately $212/month for family medical coverage with
hospital stay and x-ray deductibles. Temporary workers have no
medical coverage. |
Workers pay a maximum
of $41/month for family medical coverage. |
|
Pension |
Workers have no
pension plan. When Coke turned operations over to Cutrale,
Cutrale took away the pension plan to which Coke had
contributed. |
Workers have a company
paid pension plan. |
|
Wages |
Laborers--$7/hour;
Electronic techs--$19+/hour; Temporary workers--$6-7/hour with
no benefits. |
Laborers--$11/hour
Lead skilled positions--$19/hour |
|
Temporary Workers |
In 2000, 24% of
experienced employees were replaced by temporary employees.
2-4% of the workforce was fired in the past year. |
Pepsi employs no
temporary workers at this facility. |
|
Strikes/Labor Unions |
Since Coke hired
Cutrale, there have been consistent problems for workers and
their Union. In January 2000, the workers were forced to call
an unfair labor practice strike, which lasted 6 weeks. |
There has never been a
strike since the workers organized a Union in 1965. |
Coca-Cola
Management: Learn from the Leader...
Greater Control Brings Greater Returns! |
