Pascual Boing - History

History

The company was originally a private enterprise, started in 1940 by Rafael Victor Jiménez Zamudo. In the 1960s, Jíménez began using tetra paks and acquired its Northern plant from Canada Dry, along with a franchise to produce and market these products. From its beginnings to the early 1980s, the company had tremendous growth with Jiménez very successful in the face of competition from multinational corporations. Two plants were opened in 1960s. In 1980, the company was fourth in the soft drink market in Mexico. However, the working conditions at the plants were exploitative, with workers obligated to work overtime without pay increases. There had been several attempts to organize workers at the plant due to abuses, but management fired organizers.

In March 1982, the Mexican federal government decreed that all workers, including those in private companies, receive thirty percent wage increases because of the devaluation of the peso. However, Jiménez refused the increase, stating that he could not afford it. Several political activists organized the workers to protest and as 150 workers were fired for participating, all the workers went on strike on May 18, 1982, shutting down operations. On May 31, Jiménez and others confronted the striking workers at the plant in Colonia Tránsito. Violence broke out and two strikers were killed, with seventeen wounded). Jiménez was formally accused of murder but was not prosecuted.

The work stoppage went on for three years. At one point, workers took over the federal arbitration offices, and a formal committee to represent the workers was formed. They gained legal recognition as well a public support for their cause. In 1983, the courts found in favor of the workers in litigation against the company and in 1984, workers met with President Miguel de la Madrid . Jiménez declared the company bankrupt and tried to sell the facilities. However, the workers and federal authorities worked out an arrangement that the workers would take over the company entirely, including facilities and brand. A cooperative called the Sociedad Cooperativa Trabajadores de Pascual S.C.L. was formed on May 27, 1985.

After years of being idle, the new worker/owners needed about 1.5 million dollars to restart operations. During the strike, over 320 painters sided with the workers including Rufino Tamayo, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Francisco Toledo, Felipe Ehrenberg, Carolia Paniagua, José Chávez Morado, Alfredo Zalce, Guillermo Ceniceros and José Luis Cuevas as well as the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana and Taller de Gráfica Popular by donating artworks to auction off. There were two small auctions but the money being raised was not sufficient and the continued selling of the artworks became difficult. Instead, the main union of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México provided the funds needed to obtain permits and service the machinery. The remaining painting remained with the company and in 1991 an entity called the Fundación Cultural Trabajadores de Pascual y del Arte, A. C. was created for their care and promotion.

The new cooperative has had multiple struggles since it was created. The start of the cooperative was rocky with internal struggles among the workers as to how to organize and operate. However, operations as a cooperative began on November 27, 1985 with workers receiving their first share of profits in May 1986. The former owner, Jiménez, lost the legal right to use the name Pascual Boing but nonetheless was doing so from a plant in Aguascalientes until cooperative representative negotiated a deal.

Another ongoing problem is that the land on which the original factories are located did not belong to the original company but rather to the owner’s wife, Victoria Valdez. She was allowed to sue the cooperative in 1989 and won the case in 2003, with the court ordering Pascual off the land. At this point, then Mexico City mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, expropriated the land from Valdez to give to Pascual. However in 2005, the Supreme Court decreed this expropriation to be illegal, since it did not benefit the public but a private company that produced a non-essential product.

Pascual does not see itself as a private, for-profit company; they claim that being worker-owned, they perform a social function and as such expropriation in their favor is for public benefit. Since their founding, they have received vocal and political support from the PRD, intellectuals, writers such as Elena Poniatowska, college students and those opposed to globalization .

Despite its problems, the cooperative has grown, opening major processing plants in San Juan del Río, Querétaro in 1992, one in Tizayuca, Hidalgo in 2003 and another in Culiacán, Sinaloa in 2006. In the 2000s, it has also been working on markets in the United States and elsewhere, eyeing northern areas nearer the border such as Ciudad Acuña to facilitate export and in 2011 a freezing and bottling plant was begun in Anáhuac, Nuevo León . Despite its growth, the cooperative has had to rebut assertions that it is going broke. For example, in 2007, the company had to deny a chain email stating that it was on the verge of bankruptcy, and to buy the product to save the company.

Today, Pascual Boing is the only remaining wholly Mexican owned major soft drink bottler. The company employs over 5,000 people and generates over 22,000 jobs indirectly, benefitting more than 50,000 families. Part of the enterprise’s mission is to show that employee ownership as a cooperative can work. The organization of the cooperative consists of a General Assembly of founders and other partners, followed several boards including Corporate/Investment, Administration, Oversight and the Cultural Foundation. Under these are four commissions called Education, Social Outlook, Arbitration and Technical Control. It is also dedicated to a sense of social responsibility. It has been recognized by the Secretaría del Trabajo as a “clean industry” . In 2003, the company partnered with the federal government to circulate information about the prevention or kidnapping of children which included announcements on Pascual Boing trucks and materials for schools.