Pascual Boing

Pascual Boing is a Mexican soft drinks company.

Following a lengthy strike and bankruptcy in the 1980s, the company is now a worker-run co-operative. Pascual Boing is a very important company in the eyes of left-wing politicians, as it is one of the few Mexican worker-owned companies that have national presence, even making inroads into the United States and Central America market . Currently they have several plants in Mexico, but their headquarters are in their historical plants in Mexico City.

Its flagship product is a range of non-carbonated drinks that contain real fruit juice or fruit pulp – "shake before opening" the bottles remind consumers. The available flavors include mango, tamarind, strawberry, grape, apple, orange, guava, pineapple, soursop and the recently added flavor peach.

Their carbonated drinks range also proudly announces that the bottles contain "real juice or pulp".

History

Pascual was founded in the 1940s. During the 1982 economic crisis, the government decreed a compulsory 30% raise to all workers, including those of private companies. Pascual's owner claimed he could not afford such a raise, so the workers went on strike. After some time, the government ruled in their favor. The owner then declared bankruptcy, and Pascual closed. The workers were given the chance to buy the company and they did. For this reason Pascual still is a flagship company for the government and left-wing politicians. Pascual bought the company assets, but it also took possession of private land belonging to the wife of the owner, Victoria Valdéz Cacho de Jiménez. This land was not part of the company assets but rented; it was important because it held two water wells which Pascual could exploit for free, thereby lowering its production costs. When the rent contract expired in 1985, Victoria Valdéz refused to renew it, but Pascual kept the land anyway with government support.

Victoria Valdéz was allowed to sue in 1989, and won the case in 2003. When the court ordered Pascual to be evicted, left-wing politician Andrés Manuel López Obrador, then Mayor of Mexico City, expropriated the land from Valdéz to give it to Pascual, claiming the company created employment and wealth. By 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. Valdéz wants her property back, while Pascual wants to retain the water wells which it can exploit for free, besides the technical expense of moving the plants or building their plants in other states. If they are evicted, Pascual will not close, as they are now a national company, but it would set back their expansion plans and increase their operating expenses as they would no longer have free water.

Pascual does not see itself as a private, for-profit company; they claim that being worker-owned (a cooperative) they perform a social function and as such expropriation in their favor is for public benefit. The have received support from the PRD party, and together they are deciding their course of action. Publicly discussed options are (see [http://www.amlo.org.mx/noticias/comunicados.html?id=51921] , [http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/316515.html] , [http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2005/10/26/026n2pol.php] and [http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?idc=212923] , in Spanish):
# To make their case against the Supreme Court that it is technically unfeasible to evict Pascual, thus forcing Valdéz to accept an indemnization.
# Alejandro Encinas (PRD), the new Mayor of Mexico City, has proposed to repeat the expropriation. The legality of this action is unclear.
# To somehow convince Victoria Valdéz to sell the property to them, despite her steadfast refusal to do so. If Valdéz agrees, the money would be obtained either via a low-interest credit from Mexico City's government or by a donation drive.

Pascual has another problem – they are not allowed to exploit the water wells they had been using since 1985, since the exploitation permit is in the name of Victoria Valdéz and it cannot be transferred. This could be cause for sanctions.

External links

* [http://www.pascualboing.com.mx/ Company website]