Song: The Ballad of Pascual
The Sociedad Cooperativa Trabajadores Pascual is a natural fruit drink bottler with a tradition of over a half century of production in Mexico. Two of its three plants are located in Mexico City and a third in San Juan del Río, Querétaro.
Pascual began its support of the Puruarán sugar mill in 1998. In solidarity with the newly formed Sociedad Cooperativa Trabajadores del Ingenio Puruarán, both of which endured years of struggle against corporate domination of workers, Pascual purchase s 100% of the sugar production from the newly-formed cooperative sugar mill in the state of Michoacán. Advances on purchase of the mill's production enable the Puruarán sugar mill to undertake repairs to the refinery and cover salaries of workers. This arrangement assures Pascual a source of sugar for its natural soft drinks and provides a guaranteed market for the Puruarán mill for its production. Unlike other soft drink products that substitute high fructose corn syrup for cane sugar, Pascual uses on ly cane sugar. Thus, the Puruarán mill does not face the same loss of market as other sugar mills associated with the cola bottling industry.
Pascual is a technological leader in this branch of the soft drink industry, enjoying international recognition. The company is a world leader in sanitary and quality control of its products. Its pasteurized, non-gas drinks, Boing!, Lulú, and Pascual , are natural and healthy products made from fruits grown in several regions of Mexico. These include mango, grape, strawberry, guayaba, pineapple, apple, tamarind, orange, grapefruit, lime, and guanaba.
Pascual, S.A. was founded in 1940 by Rafael Victor Jiménez Zamudio. In the mid 1960s, Jiménez signed a contract with the Swedish company Tetra Pak, S.A. de C.V. for exclusive packaging of Boing. Jiménez acquired its Northern plant from Canada Dry at the end of the 1960s, along with a franchise to produce and market its products. Both the exclusive rights to Tetra Pak packaging and the Canada Dry franchise were lost when a workers' strike broke out in 1982.
While Pascual experienced tremendous growth, the standard of living for its workers, who were obligated to work overtime without pay increases, declined. Workers endured the double exploitation of a repressive work system and the indifference of their syndicate to their working conditions. The management fired workers who attempted to organize to confront these injustices. Many workers came from rural backgrounds and lacked knowledge of their rights.
In March, 1982, President López Portillo, following devaluation of the peso, issued a presidential decree giving an emergency increase to workers' salaries, but Pascual refused to comply with the wage increase. Ing. Heberto Castillo, a former leader o f the 1968 student movement, railroad leader C. Demetrio Vallejo, Dionisio Noriega, and Raúl Pedraza organized the workers to protest these conditions. As Jiménez proceeded to fire 150 workers, the workers initiated a strike on May 18, 1982. On May 31, Jiménez and his aids arrived at the Southern plant, where two workers were assassinated and 17 suffered injuries. Jiménez was never punished for these crimes.
During the course of their long and intense struggle, workers took over the offices of the Junta Federal de Conciliación y Arbitraje. A Committee for the Struggle of Women, Wives, and Relatives of the Workers of Pascual formed. Workers attained legal recognition of their work contract, along with public support for their struggle.
In August, 1984, workers met with President Miguel de la Madrid and adopted a solution to the conflict: "That the property of Refrescos Pascual, S.A. be legally turned over to the workers and that the workers agree to work as a cooperative." This alt ernative was accepted by authorities and the workers of Pascual became owners, but without the initial capital to continue production. The S.T.U.N.A.M. granted $1,450,000 to the cooperative, which was used to obtain permits and service the machinery, whi ch had been shut down since 1982.
The brand name "Boing" now belonged to the workers, however, it was learned that the brand was being produced in Aguascalientes and marketed by Jiménez. Workers sent a commission to Aguascalientes where they negotiated the continued production of Boin g. The commission returned to Mexico City where, in an assembly, 176 of the former 1100 workers were designated to initiate operations of the Pascual Cooperative. Boing sales were to be deposited in the bank in order to capitalize the cooperative. On N ovember 27, 1985, the Sociedad Cooperativa Trabajadores de Pascual, S.C.L. began operating its factory. All personnel received the same salary and in May 1986, the cooperative received its first profits. Today the Pascual cooperative is a highly success ful business.