BELLEVUE, Wash. – Approximately 500 Coke employees from the Teamsters Union went on strike Monday afternoon.
The strike impacts six locations in Western Washington. Members were picketing outside the Bellevue location Monday night.
The union says Coke plans on closing several locations despite making a large profit.
According to the union, approximately 500 Coke employees from six Teamster Locals across Western Washington went on strike at 5 p.m. Monday in response to the Company’s surveillance and intimidation of its employees and its refusal to bargain a contract in good faith.
The union says the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is investigating the company for serious and repeated violations of federal labor law, including “surface bargaining”, surveillance of its employees, and threatening to retaliate against workers for engaging in protected activities.
"That's not true," says Bob Phillips, spokesperson for Coca Cola Bottling Company of Washington. "We have been flexible and have followed all federal and state laws and obligations."
The union says a key sticking point in the negotiations have been Coca Cola's insistence on raising health care premiums by 800 percent, and eliminating health care coverage for Coke retirees. Phillips says the figures are "wildly" off-base and says the company is pushing to eliminate the retiree coverage for "new hires only."
A union negotiator believes the work stoppage will affect distribution of Coke products around Western Washington, but Coke says contingency plans have been made to move product around the region.
Negotiations between Coke and a coalition of six Teamsters Local Unions called Washington Teamsters United have been underway since April.
Washington Teamsters United, which includes Teamsters Local Unions 38, 117, 174, 252, 313, and 589, represents approximately 500 Coke employees at six Western Washington area locations, in Bellevue, Marysville, Fife, Tacoma, Aberdeen and Bremerton.
