Yesterday was the fourth day of a strike in a bottling and distribution plant of Coca-Cola Femsa in Carabobo state. Workers are demanding a fair collective agreement, pay rises, food tickets, and a dining room.
On
Wednesday the Venezuelan Ministry for Health ordered the Coca-Cola Company to
remove its product Coca-Cola Zero from sale for containing a cancerous
ingredient, sodium cyclamate, an ingredient not included in the US version of
the drink.
On Wednesday, the mayor of the municipality of Libertador in Caracas, Jorge Rodriguez, who is from the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), signed an agreement with Coca-Cola to take over its land located in the lower-class suburb of Catia, anduse it for public housing.
Nearly 5,000 former Coca-Cola workers in Venezuela have blockaded 23
bottling facilities since last Tuesday to demand compensation for
having been laid off when the Mexican firm FEMSA took over the
Venezuelan operations from Panamco in 2003.
Venezuela's Tax agency Seniat shut down Coca-Cola for 48 hours today, for failing to keep their books in order. The shutdown follows on the heels of a similar closure of McDonald's last week, and several other transnational and national businesses over the past year as part of Seniat's attempts to increase tax revenue.
