The Union of Workers of Embotelladora Central SA (STECSA - Coca Cola) has just renewed its governing committee. SIREL spoke with Carlos Alberto Luch, STECSA’s new general secretary, who gave an overview of the union’s current situation and the prospects for the future

-When did the elections take place?

-On October 30, 2011. We proposed a work team for the Union’s Governing Committee and the workers voted for us because they trust us to lead the organization over the next two years.

-How are company-union relations right now?

We came into office last January 15, as mandated by our statutes, and have used these first 15 days to become familiarized with Governing Committee matters. So we still haven’t had the opportunity to exchange ideas with the company. However, we are fully aware of the stage we are at in the negotiations of our List of Demands, and I can tell you that we have not finished yet.

-When did negotiations start?

-In February 2011.

-It has been going on for a long time…

-It’s been almost a year. Under Guatemala’s labour legislation, collective bargaining agreements remain in force until a new one is signed. As this issue has been going on for so long, our intention is to focus on furthering negotiations so we can resolve this as soon as possible.

-Can you mention two or three essential issues in the negotiations?

We have a very solid agreement and in this opportunity we are asking for a salary adjustment, about the same as inflation.

-What percentage?

-A 15 percent adjustment for all categories. Also, we aim to maintain the terms of the last agreement.

-What is the company’s position?

-So far, FEMSA has rejected our proposals. What the company wants to do is weaken our organization since they intend to eliminate certain terms of the agreement in force.

But we have been visiting every workplace and consulting workers to determine how we should approach this last negotiation stage, as we think it is likely that we will have to mobilize and take firm actions.

- And how did you find the workers?

-We found them in very high spirits. Fortunately we cannot complain about our union members. They are always ready to fight for their rights.

-What medium-term objectives are you proposing?

-These workplace visits are allowing us to exchange ideas with our union members, find out what their needs are, because as Governing Committee we can have our ideas, but they are the ones who have firsthand information on the working conditions and can provide better input for the development of a platform of demands.

Based on this work, we will define a number of points to bring back and negotiate with the company.

-Have you identified any of those points yet?

-There’s a fairly widespread concern over the “invasion” of our area of operations by the other Coca-Cola franchises that exist in Guatemala, and that’s what we believe is affecting us most.

There is a bottling plant in the south and another one in the north of the country. Supposedly, each of these has a defined territory for their operations, but what happens a lot is that our distributors go into a store and are told that another salesperson has already been there and left them products for the same brands we distribute and at prices that are lower than ours.

This reduces the income of the distributors and threatens our jobs, because it is a practice that’s increasing. Unfortunately, the company does not defend its territory adequately, and that affects us.

-Does every franchise have different owners?

-Yes. This is unfair competition, since each franchise has an assigned territory. But the problem is that those territories have not been respected for a long time.

-How many workers does Embotelladora Central employ?
-There are 1,200 workers, including administrative staff, 982 of whom are union members. This company has about 40 percent of the market.
In the Union there is great enthusiasm and we hope to satisfy the expectations that the workers have regarding our abilities to lead the organization. And we know which way to go.