**BREAKING NEWS** Tonight's Meeting

Wow, the most controversial and contentious meeting of MSA since I've been here and most likely the most visible in years has just ended. In attendance were the usual Reps, the Michigan Daily, a channel 4 cameraman, at least 5 Coca-Cola Representatives, former MSA President Matt Nolan, and at least 40 other constituents. There was clearly a lot at stake, and I must say, I am proud of everything we did tonight (with a couple of exceptions). I will now summarize the Coke situation voted on tonight, and this is a little long, so I will not be offended if you do not read this whole entry.
The first resolution was the Coke resolution which I outlined in my last entry, scroll down to find out what it said. Before it could be voted on, President Mironov proposed we "bifurcate" the resolution, meaning we'd vote on what we thought of the allegations, and then vote separately on the actions to take. I supported this, because I believed it would give people who were a little uneasy about such a strong indictment of Coke some other options. This proposal to bifurcate passed. After that, Law Rep Davidson advised we amend the first section to weaken the language a little bit, and basically not hold Coke as accountable, instead seeking their response to the allegations and not any direct action. I voted against this, and so did the majority of the assembly. We then voted on the first part, which said the following:
Therefore be it resolved, the External Relations Committee and Peace and Justice Commission shall draft and send a letter to the Coca-Cola Company demanding that the Coca-Cola Company:
- Denounce the violence that is occurring in the name of the Coca-Cola Company in Colombia.
- Respect the fundamental rights to free association and to organize trade unions, as reflected in Colombian law, Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights, as well as Conventions 87 & 88 of the International Labor Organization.
- Announce publicly in Colombia its intention to participate in an investigation of the violence at its bottling plants.
- Reinforce Coca-Cola’s public stance against violence by directing all bottling plants in Colombia to stop dealing with any armed groups that are participating in violence against trade unionists.
- Establish a complaint and reporting process which will allow union members to report violations occurring in Coca-Cola bottling plants to an official of the company who will then investigate and take swift remedial action against these violations.
- Provide compensation to the known victims of violence at Coca-Cola bottling plants.
- Withdraw entirely from Coca-Cola plants in Kersala, India, based on worker’s and citizen’s demands in the region.
- Provide basic healthcare to workers and their dependents of Coca-Cola’s bottlers and distributors infected with HIV/AIDS.
After the first section was passed, the second section came up to vote, but before that could happen, Mironov again proposed a change. He proposed the final clause be changed from saying: ERC (my committee) will send letters to the Ethical Purchasing Committee, the head of Purchasing, and President Coleman to demand the U not renew its contract if Coke has not fully complied and addressed the grievances above, to a more moderate resolution stating the MSA supports the efforts of the Coke Coalition and urges the cutting of the contract if the Review Board finds Coke responsible to the charges. That is merely a paraphrase of the new resolution, and may be slightly inaccurate, I apologize, I will update it more specifically when I obtain a copy of his amendment (I lost it in the craziness of the meeting, sorry). The Assembly(and myself) agreed that the changes to the resolution should be made, on the basis of maintaining a good relationship with the University and respecting the process that is underway. By no means do I pledge my 100 percent support for the University in everything they do by voting for the amendment; I merely believe that we would have been overstepping our bounds as a governing body by completely indicting Coke on these charges and then demanding the U cut its contract. We are one of the few (or only) Universities to have a Vendor's Code of Conduct, and I believe as such we are a leader amongst universities in our dealings with vendors. As such, I believe we should respect these institutions, in order to ensure that they will be as strong as possible in the future. This was a hard decision for me, since I saw so much support for the original amendment, and my emotions were screaming at me to vote for the resolution as proposed. However, I decided that as a Representative, I should not let my emotions be involved too much, and making prudent decisions with the big picture in mind. I believe we made a strong statement of our disproval of certain actions of Coke, while maintaining our integrity, and hopefully, our respect. I apologize for any in the campaign who felt they suffered a loss tonight, but I believe they should view it as a victory. Coca-cola will have to take notice, and the publicity of the campaign is already resulting in progress, in my opinion. Please feel free to contact me at mcfo@umich.edu or comment on this blog if you require further explanation or have any questions about tonight's vote. I will update on the rest of the meeting at a later time, this huge entry has worn me out.