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Pascual Boing is a Mexican soft drink maker mostly known for its fruit flavored beverages marketed under the Pascual, Boing! and Lulú brands. The enterprise was begun in 1940 and successfully held against the entrance of foreign competitors in the Mexican market. However, continued labor disputes led to a strike in 1982, which ended in 1985 with the workers obtaining the right to take over the company, running it as a cooperative. Since then, it has remained a profitable business although it has lost market share in Mexico, due to competition from Coca-Cola and Pepsi. This has prompted the company to protest unfair practices which exclude it from retail venues as well as look abroad to new markets, especially in the United States. it is also one of the sponsors for many Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide's shows
HistoryEdit
The company was originally a private enterprise, started in 1940 by Rafael Victor Jiménez Zamudo.<ref name="rhred">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="ballad">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<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">Template:Cite news</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">Template:Cite news</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">Template:Cite news</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">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="quees">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</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 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">Template:Cite news</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">Template:Cite news</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">Template:Cite news</ref>
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.<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">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="takesaim">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="voltea">Template:Cite news</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">Template:Cite news</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">Template:Cite news</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">Template:Cite news</ref>
Products and productionEdit
The company sells fruit juice, nectars, concentrates, carbonated beverages, bottled water and milk.<ref name="pararato"/><ref name="aumenta"/> It is best known for its fruit flavored drinks such as guava, mango, tamarind, strawberry, apple, pineapple, soursop, grape, lime, grapefruit and peach under the Boing! Lulú and Pascual brands.<ref name="actualiza"/><ref name="25años"/> Other brands include PulpaMex, Woopy, Leche Pascual, Nectasis and Pascuatin.<ref name="rhred"/>
All of the processing of their products is done by Pascual.<ref name="rhred"/> Pascual uses real sugar in their products as opposed to fructose although the former is more expensive.<ref name="pararato"/> It obtains its sugar from the Sociedad Cooperativa Trabajadores del Ingenio Puruarán in Michoacán, purchasing 100% of the annual production. They also use real fruit such as mangos from Veracruz and Guerrero, strawberries from Guanajuato and apples from Puebla along with natural colorings.<ref name="ballad"/><ref name="25años"/>
The company has nineteen facilities and thirty production lines, capable of producing 120 tons of fruit pulp and 470,970 cases of finished product in three shifts with an annual capacity of fifty million cases of finished product per year.<ref name="rhred"/><ref name="pararato"/> It has two main processing plants Planta San Juan del Río in Querétaro and Planta Tizayuca in Hidalgo.<ref name="rhred"/><ref name="aumenta"/> The Tizayuca plant produces about a billion liters of juice a year and employs about 900 people, working at only sixty percent of capacity.<ref name="aumenta"/><ref name="china">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2011 the company invested about 25 million pesos to expand the Tizayuca plant.<ref name="aumenta"/> As part of its expansion northward, a smaller plant was built in Anáhuac, Nuevo León.<ref name="anahuac">Template:Cite news</ref>
Marketing and distributionEdit
Most of Pascuals’ products are marketed on the Boing!, Pascual and Lulú brands. While its products can be found in all of Mexico, distribution is concentrated in the center and northeast of the country, with the Mexico City area accounting for sixty percent of sales.<ref name="rhred"/><ref name="pararato"/><ref name="voltea"/> There are a total of 1048 distribution centers.<ref name="rhred"/> It has 19 wholly owned distributors along with 27 major independent distributors in Acapulco, Aguascalientes, Mexico City, Ciudad Madero, Cuernavaca, Guadalajara, Iguala, León, Monterrey, Morelia, Pachuca, Poza Rica, Puebla, Querétaro, Río Blanco, San Luis Potosí and Toluca .<ref name="voltea"/> In the center of the country, Pascual products are widely found in smaller grocery stores, restaurants and semi-fixed street stands, which account for about half of its sales.<ref name="pararato"/><ref name="niche">Template:Cite news</ref> Delivery of products is mostly handled by an outside cooperative of truckers.<ref name="rhred"/>
Pascual Boing is a major exporter of soft drinks in Mexico along with Arca.<ref name="embotelladoreas">Template:Cite news</ref> In 2008, the exported about 1.5 million of the 50 million cases of beverages it produced.<ref name="embotelladoreas"/> It exports to the U.S., Canada, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago, with exports to China and South America beginning in 2012.<ref name="rhred"/><ref name="voltea"/><ref name="china"/>
Its largest export market is the United States, concentrated in Texas, Chicago, North Carolina, Florida and California, where it targets the Hispanic market looking for something from home.<ref name="rhred"/><ref name="niche"/> As of 2011, sales were about 150,000 cases.<ref name="takesaim"/> NAFTA has helped with the lowering of tariffs, making the products more competitive.<ref name="niche"/> Pascual Boing began in small Hispanic groceries and is working to expand into major supermarkets but this has been difficult because it does not spend as much on marketing as other soft drink producers.<ref name="niche"/> However, the US export market is growing and in the 2000s it began constructing facilities in border areas in order to facilitate export to the United States.<ref name="voltea"/>
Much of the push to develop foreign markets for Pascual Boing products has come from competition inside Mexico from multinational companies.<ref name="china"/> Pascual Boing has accused makers such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi of monopolistic practices aimed at excluding the Mexican bottlers from retail venues such as small groceries, school cafeterias and public events.<ref name="pararato"/><ref name="aumenta"/><ref name="cierran">Template:Cite news</ref> Pascual Boing used to have a fifty percent share in Mexico but this has shrunk to fifteen percent.<ref name="actualiza"/><ref name="pararato"/> Today, Coca-Cola and its bottlers control over 75% of the Mexican soft drink market.<ref name="niche"/> Pascual Boing accuses Coca-Cola and Pepsi of making outlets sign exclusivity agreements, so that they cannot sell Pascual products.<ref name="china"/> For example, Pascual is excluded from about twenty percent of school campuses in the state of Hidalgo.<ref name="cierran"/> In 2010, Pascual workers closed the Mexico City-Pachuca highway to demand that federal and state authorities do something against these tactics.<ref name="aumenta"/>
LogoEdit
The company has had a long-standing dispute with Walt Disney over its duck logo, adopted in the 1940s.<ref name="actualiza"/> The logo was based on Donald Duck including a sailors cap and named Pato Pascual (Pascual Duck). This version can still be found in some places.<ref name="actualiza"/> In the 1980s, Disney sued, leading to some minor changes in the logo.<ref name="vanquishes">Template:Cite news</ref> In the 2000s, Disney complained again that the logo looked too much like Donald Duck. In 2007, it was changed again, with the current version having a rapper look with ruffled feathers and a baseball cap turned backwards.<ref name="actualiza"/>
Fundación PascualEdit
During the strike of 1982–1985, workers were supported by over 320 artists.<ref name="25años"/> After the workers won the right to take over the company, these artists along with the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana and Taller de Gráfica Popular began a project to auction donated works to raise the money needed to restart the idle plants. The project gathered 524 works of art.<ref name="elarte"/> However, most of the donated paintings were not sold for various reasons ending with the obtaining of the needed money from the main union of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.<ref name="plaza"/><ref name="elarte"/>
The new workers’ cooperative offered to return the works to the artists but most preferred that they remained with the organization. From 1985 to 1991, the collection increased to almost one thousand pieces due to continued donations.<ref name="elarte"/> In 1991, the cooperative created the Fundación Cultural de Trabajadores de Pascual to care and promote the collection.<ref name="25años"/> The permanent collection mostly contains works by about 400 Mexican and Latin American artists but also some from Spain and Germany, representing about 400 artists, mostly dating from the middle to late 20th century.<ref name="arcoiris">Template:Cite news</ref> The collection includes sculptures, canvas works, diptychs, triptychs and more. The collection has been put on display various times such as in the Centro Cultural El Refugio in Tlaquepaque and Espacio del Arte of Televisa.<ref name="elarte"/>