News Article

A Race-Bias Suit Tests Coke: Can the Real Thing Do the Right Thing?

The Wall Street Journal

Published: May 18, 1999

ATLANTA - Black political leaders and the white corporate elite have maintained a mostly peaceful, if uneasy, alliance since World War II here, and Coca-Cola Co. has been at the epicenter of it. The soft-drink giant prides itself on its role as a supporter of the city's African-American community through racial turmoil and also through more recent economic prosperity.

Now, a racial-discrimination lawsuit is testing the ties Coke has forged with Atlanta's black community. In a complaint filed in federal court last month, four current and former Coca-Cola employees allege disparities between white and black employees at the company, in terms of pay, promotions, performance evaluations and dismissals. They are seeking class-action status for their complaint to represent the estimated 1,500 black employees who have worked for Coke since April 1995. Coke denies the allegations.

Citing statistics it says document a big salary gap based on race, the suit, for example, alleges the median salary for black employees at Coke's corporate headquarters in 1998 was about $36,000, compared with $65,000 for whites working there. Coke, in its legal response filed last week, denies that the plaintiffs' data "fairly describe salaries at Coca-Cola.

For all Coke's goodwill, its alliance with black leaders could crack if, for example, many more allegations surface. The NAACP's southeastern office has received 20 to 30 calls from current and former black Coke employees since the lawsuit was filed, according to Nelson Rivers, director of the group's Southeast division and national director of field operations.

Joe Beasley, director of the southern region for the Rev. Jesse Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition and well-known in Atlanta for battling white power brokers, says he was disappointed with the legal response Coke filed last week, which was mostly a blanket denial of the various allegations. Coke says it plans to show that it doesn't tolerate discrimination.

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