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ATLANTA - More than 2,000 workers at plants in California and Connecticut that
bottle Coca-Cola soft drinks went on strike Monday, just before the start of the
summer season.
The workers, mostly production workers and delivery drivers, were in contract
negotiations with Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., the world's largest beverage bottler.
The workers walked out over the company's proposal that they pay more for health
benefits.
Chris Roos, the leader of Teamsters Local 1035 in East Hartford, Conn., said
the strike was planned the week before Memorial Day to pressure the company
to negotiate or jeopardize summer sales.
"Within a day or two, you probably won't see too much Coke on the shelves,"
he said.
Despite the strike, the Connecticut plant was still running Monday. Asked if
the strike would disrupt summer Coke deliveries, company spokesman Bob Lanz
said, "absolutely not."
Union leaders say the workers have been arguing with management over health
care costs since last fall. The bottling company has regional, not national,
contracts with workers, which is why the strike was only in the two bottling
plants. The two strikes are over separate contracts.
Coca-Cola Enterprises is a separate company from The Coca-Cola Co., though
it produces 80 percent of Coca-Cola bottles and cans in North America. Bottlers
buy concentrate from the Coca-Cola Co. and also contribute money for marketing
the product.
Coca-Cola Co. owns a stake of roughly 37 percent in Coca-Cola Enterprises,
which employs 74,000 people in 46 states.
Shares of Coca-Cola Enterprises rose 28 cents to close at $21.87 in Monday
trading on the New York Stock Exchange, while shares of Coca-Cola Co. fell 8
cents to close at $44.97 but are still comfortably above their 52-week low of
$38.30.
David White of Teamsters Brewery & Soft Drink Conference said the 400 striking
workers in Connecticut and 1,700 striking workers in Los Angeles were especially
upset about health care plans for executives that White called "lavish."
The workers, whose average pay is $15 to $20 an hour, can't afford higher health
care costs, White said.
"These are folks that live paycheck to paycheck, many of them. They're
not well-to-do people. And you have the company giving out huge consulting contracts
and lifetime health care coverage for departing executives and that doesn't
seem to bother them," White said.
Lanz said the contract was fair and wouldn't raise health care costs for workers.
"We don't know why they're striking," he said. "We offered them
a very, very competitive contract."
Another company spokeswoman, Lauren Sayeski, said the summer soft drink season
wasn't in danger.
"We're business as usual right now. We prepared for this, and our customers
won't be affected," she said.
John Sicher, editor of Beverage Digest magazine, said he doubted the bottling
strikes would have immediate impact on the bottler.
"Every strike creates some disruption, but as of now the plants are still
running," he said. "They're the biggest Coke bottler, and they have
a pretty fair amount of experience with this kind of situation."
