By COLIN PERKEL

December 27, 2005

Associated Press

Toronto — Stung by allegations that it has sacrificed human rights on the altar of corporate profits, the world's largest soft-drink company has launched a counter-offensive in hopes of heading off further boycotts on Canadian campuses.

“We're always concerned that these allegations could continue to spread,” explained Kerry Kerr, public-relations co-ordinator with the Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, who says the accusations are false.

“One of the main concerns, especially for our bottlers in areas like (Canada), is that these boycotts are actually affecting workers in the local area,” said Ms. Kerr.

In a referendum in October, students at McMaster rejected renewal of a $6-million exclusivity deal the administration has with Coke.

Students at the University of Guelph had previously taken similar action while Ryerson University, where a visit by the Coke reps fell through at the last minute, is among several campus groups in Canada also considering campaigns.

“Things really are happening in Canada,” Ray Rogers, an American anti-Coke activist, said from New York.

During the McMaster campaign, Mr. Rogers told students that paramilitary groups had murdered and tortured trade union leaders at Coke plants in Colombia, including one inside a plant in Carepa.

A civil lawsuit related to the killings is ongoing in Miami.

A senior Coca-Cola representative from the violent South American country, where left-wing guerrillas, drug lords, the military and right-wing paramilitary forces have clashed for decades, said critics may be well intentioned but are badly misinformed.

“There are groups outside that do not know the Colombian reality,” Pablo Largacha Escallon, public relations manager for Coca-Cola Servicios de Colombia, said in an interview during his visit to Canada.

“There is a humanitarian crisis in Colombia, but they have made it a Coca-Cola-centric thing when it's a Colombia-centric thing.”

With sales of about $50-million (U.S.), Coca-Cola and its bottlers employ about 2,000 people directly at eight plants in Colombia.

The company, said Mr. Largacha, provides opportunities for people to work in a legitimate enterprise and is trying to improve working conditions and security for all its employees, including union leaders.

The corporation has also recently hired a global labour-relations director and plans to issue a human-rights policy next year.

“Companies nowadays cannot be apolitical,” said Mr. Largacha, who accused critics of having their own political agenda.

So far, the boycotts are barely noticeable on the bottom line — about $4.85-billion in profits last year — but 20 campuses in North America have opted to go Coke free and hundreds more could follow suit soon in England.

Tommy Piribauer, president of the McMaster students union, did not return calls about his meeting this month with Coca-Cola reps.

Coke is also trying to head off criticism of its environmental record in India and Africa.

Earlier this month, hundreds of villagers protested outside a bottling plant in India, blaming the company for severe water shortages.