Embotelladora Andina S.A.

Embotelladora Andina S.A., the Coca-Cola franchise bottler operating across Chile, Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, has faced documented union suppression across multiple countries over an extended period. According to a 2014 submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council prepared by the Centre Europe-Tiers Monde (CETIM), the Coca-Cola bottling system in Colombia — operating under the franchise structure that includes Andina affiliates — engaged in a sustained campaign to weaken and ultimately eliminate Sinaltrainal, the food and beverage workers' union. Company internal documents referred to as "Dia D," "Plan Padrino," and "El Corrientazo," obtained by Sinaltrainal leadership, explicitly identified the union as an obstacle to reducing labor costs. Sinaltrainal's membership fell to approximately 287 affiliated workers, in part because a 2004 Ministry of Labour ruling — obtained with the company's consent — revoked the union's bylaws in a manner that barred outsourced workers from joining. Subcontracting accounted for roughly 70 percent of the over 7,000 workers involved in the company's production, and that work was routed through front companies including Atencom S.A.S., Imbera, OXXON, and FL Colombia S.A.S., which the CETIM report states were controlled by the transnational corporation itself. The arrangement allowed the company to simulate direct employment contracts while denying workers the benefits guaranteed under the collective labor agreement.

The interference extended beyond administrative maneuvers. According to the CETIM submission, the company pursued repeated legal proceedings to have Sinaltrainal sections in Bogota, Girardot, Santa Marta, Cali, Villavicencio, and other cities declared illegal, including a 2012 case before the Bogota Labor Court. At least 12 union leaders were subjected to criminal charges — including allegations of vandalism, conspiracy, rebellion, and terrorism — and some received arrest warrants that the company then used as grounds for dismissal for "just cause," though they were subsequently compelled to rehire workers who were acquitted. Workers were subjected to systematic stigmatization campaigns in which management published images of union members and their families alongside accusations of criminal conduct. On December 17, 2010, police entered the Medellin bottling plant with armored vehicles to force the removal of subcontracted Sinaltrainal members who refused to move distribution vehicles.

More recently, El Ciudadano reported in June 2025 that the Peonetas union at Coca-Cola Andina in Chile filed complaints of illegal dismissals and persecution following the shutdown of RETCO, the company's transport subsidiary. Union representatives stated that Embotelladora Andina used the closure of RETCO as a vehicle to dismantle union organizations, characterizing it as a strategy camouflaged behind an operational restructuring. No independent government investigation findings or company response to the Chilean allegations appear in the available record.