Editing Pascual Boing (section)

== History ==
The company was originally a private enterprise, started in 1940 by Rafael Victor Jiménez Zamudo.<ref name="rhred">{{cite web |url= http://www.rhred.com/upload/CyT/conferencia_martes_1.pdf |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230509010150/http://www.rhred.com/upload/CyT/conferencia_martes_1.pdf |url-status= dead |archive-date= May 9, 2023 |title= La Cooperativa Pascual y la Responsibilidad Social |publisher= Sociedad Cooperativa "Trabajadores de Pascual" |date= May 2007 |access-date= September 15, 2012 }}</ref><ref name="ballad">{{cite web |url= https://www.mrs.umn.edu/academic/anthropology/chollett/pascual/pascual.html |title= Background for the Pascual Cooperative |publisher= University of Minnesota, Morris |access-date= September 15, 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110613231457/http://www.mrs.umn.edu/academic/anthropology/chollett/pascual/pascual.html |archive-date= 2011-06-13 |url-status= dead }}</ref> In the 1960s, Jíménez began using [[tetra pak]]s and acquired its Northern plant from [[Canada Dry]], along with a franchise to produce and market these products.<ref name="ballad"/> From its beginnings to the early 1980s, the company had tremendous growth with Jiménez very successful in the face of competition from multinational corporations.<ref name="ballad"/><ref name="plaza">{{cite news |title= Plaza Publica / Pascual: 20 anos |author=Miguel angel Granados Chapa|newspaper=Palabra |location= Saltillo |date=May 31, 2005 |page=6 |trans-title=Public Plaza/Pascual: 20 years }}</ref> Two plants were opened in the 1960s. In 1980, the company was fourth in the soft drink market in Mexico.<ref name="rhred"/> 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.<ref name="ballad"/><ref name="plaza"/>

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.<ref name="ballad"/><ref name="elarte">{{cite news |title= El arte para Pascual |first=Corina |last=Preciado |newspaper=Mural |location= Guadalajara |date=June 14, 2002 |page=17 |trans-title=Art for Pascual }}</ref> 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.<ref name="ballad"/><ref name="plaza"/>

The work stoppage went on for three years.<ref name="elarte"/>  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.<ref name="ballad"/> 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]] .<ref name="ballad"/><ref name="plaza"/> Jiménez declared the company bankrupt and tried to sell the facilities.<ref name="elarte"/> However, the workers and federal authorities worked out an arrangement that the workers would take over the company entirely, including facilities and brand.<ref name="ballad"/> A cooperative called the Sociedad Cooperativa Trabajadores de Pascual S.C.L. was formed on May 27, 1985.<ref name="rhred"/><ref name="actualiza">{{cite news |title= Pascual Boing actualiza logo; el marinerito deviene rapero |url= http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/05/13/index.php?section=economia&article=027n3eco  |newspaper=La Jornada |location=Mexico City |date=May 13, 2007 |access-date=September 15, 2012 |language=es |trans-title=Pascual Boing updates logo: the sailor becomes a rapper }}</ref>

After years of being idle, the new worker/owners needed about 1.5 million dollars to restart operations.<ref name="ballad"/> 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.<ref name="25años">{{cite news |title= Cooperativa Pascual: 25 años |first= Elena |last= Poniatowska |url= http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2010/06/15/opinion/a13a1cul  |newspaper=La Jornada |location=Mexico City |date=June 15, 2010 |access-date=September 15, 2012 |language=es |trans-title=Pascual Cooperative: 25 years }}</ref><ref name="quees">{{cite web |url= http://www.pascual.com.mx/fundacion/index.html |title= ¿Qué es la Fundación? |publisher= Fundación Cultural Trabajadores de Pascual y del Arte, A. C |access-date= September 15, 2012 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235233/http://www.pascual.com.mx/fundacion/index.html |archive-date= March 3, 2016 }}</ref>  There were two small auctions but the money being raised was not sufficient and the continued selling of the artworks became difficult.<ref name="quees"/> Instead, the main union of the [[Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México]] provided the funds needed to obtain permits and service the machinery.<ref name="ballad"/> 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.<ref name="25años"/><ref name="quees"/>

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.<ref name="plaza"/> However, operations as a cooperative began on November 27, 1985 with workers receiving their first share of profits in May 1986.<ref name="ballad"/>  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.<ref name="ballad"/><ref name="plaza"/>

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.<ref name="plaza"/> 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 of Justice of the Nation|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.<ref name="rules">{{cite news |title= Mexico's Supreme Court rules against longtime soft drink cooperative in land case.  |first=Mark  |last=Stevenson |newspaper=Associated Press |location=New York |date= November 18, 2005  }}</ref>

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.<ref name="arremete">{{cite news |title= Arremete AMLO contra la Corte por caso Pascual |author= Jorge Ramos Pérez |url= http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/316515.html |newspaper=El Universal |location=Mexico City |date= November 18, 2005 |language=es |trans-title=AMLO attacks Court for Pascual case  }}</ref> 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]] .<ref name="25años"/><ref name="pararato">{{cite news |title= Hay Boing para rato |url= http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/finanzas/30946.html  |newspaper=El Universal |location=Mexico City |date=November 21, 2002 |access-date=September 15, 2012 |language=es |trans-title=There will be Boing for some time }}</ref>

Despite its problems, the cooperative has grown, opening major processing plants in [[San Juan del Río, Querétaro]] in 1992, one in [[Tizayuca]], [[Hidalgo (state)|Hidalgo]] in 2003 and another in [[Culiacán, Sinaloa]] in 2006.<ref name="rhred"/> 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]] .<ref name="construye">{{cite news |title= Construye Pascual Boing fábrica en Nuevo León |first=José |last=García |newspaper=Reforma |location=Mexico City |date=January 28, 2011 |page=8 |language=es |trans-title=Pascual Boing constructs factory in Nuevo León }}</ref><ref name="takesaim">{{cite news |title= MEXICO: Pascual Boing takes aim at US, Central America, Caribbean |first=Ivan |last=Castano |newspaper=. just - drinks global news|location= Bromsgrove |date=July 27, 2011 }}</ref><ref name="voltea">{{cite news |title= Voltea Pascual a Ciudad Acuña |first=Francisco |last=Liñán |newspaper=Palabra |location=Saltillo |date=<!--May 5, 26--> c. 2011 |page=4 |language=es |trans-title=Pascual makes waves in Ciudad Acuña }}</ref> Despite its growth, the cooperative has had to rebut assertions that it is going broke.<ref name="pararato"/> 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.<ref name="niega">{{cite news |title= Niega Pascual Boing riesgo de quiebra |first=Jorge |last=Velazco |newspaper=Mural |location=Guadalajara |date=May 7, 2007 |page=3 |language=es |trans-title=Pascual Boing denys risk of going broke }}</ref>

Today, Pascual Boing is the only remaining wholly Mexican owned major soft drink bottler.<ref name="rhred"/><ref name="25años"/> The company employs over 5,000 people and generates over 22,000 jobs indirectly, benefitting more than 50,000 families.<ref name="rhred"/> Part of the enterprise's mission is to show that employee ownership as a cooperative can work.<ref name="25años"/> 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.<ref name="rhred"/> It is also dedicated to a sense of social responsibility. It has been recognized by the Secretaría del Trabajo as a "clean industry" .<ref name="aumenta">{{cite news |title=Aumenta producción de Pascual Boing en su planta de Tizayuca |first=Edith |last=Castillo |url=http://www.milenio.com/cdb/doc/impreso/9099896 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130128170609/http://www.milenio.com/cdb/doc/impreso/9099896 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 28, 2013 |newspaper=Milenio |location=Mexico City |date=January 23, 2012 |access-date=September 15, 2012 |language=es |trans-title=Pascual Boing raises production as its Tiayuca plant }}</ref> 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.<ref name="combaten">{{cite news |title= Combaten robo de ninos |first=Roberto |last=Morales |newspaper=Reforma |location= Mexico City |date=January 29, 2003 |page=8 |trans-title=Combat the stealing of children }}</ref>