Students ban Coca-Cola from bars

Coca-Cola will be withdrawn from Student Union outlets

Students at the University of Sussex have voted to take Coca-Cola off the menu in student union bars and shops.

They voted to boycott the brand and replace it with other products in protest at allegations of unethical trading in Colombia and India.

The union said it believed Coca-Cola was not an acceptable supplier for its outlets in Brighton.

Coca-Cola said boycotts of its products were not the way to further any cause as they primarily hurt local economies.

The boycott was proposed by student union finance officer Rosa-Wilson Garwood.

International boycott

"We will be removing it from three of our shops and all of our bars and replacing it with a different cola, probably Virgin," she said.

Colombian trade union Sinaltrainal, which represents workers at the company's bottling plants, called for an international boycott of Coca-Cola in 2003.

"Joining the international boycott would put pressure on Coca-Cola to safeguard trade unionist lives in Colombia and end environmental destruction in India," the students say.

It is expected the company's products will be withdrawn by next summer.

Coca-Cola said: "The allegations against our business in Colombia are false. We have been in Colombia for 70 years and have been an exemplary member of the business community.

"Since investing in Kerala, India in 2000, the local communities have welcomed our business as a good corporate neighbour."