PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Workers at a Coca-Cola bottling and distribution plant in North Philadelphia have gone on strike.
On Sunday — a day after their contract expired — Liberty Coca-Cola employees with the Teamsters Local 830 labor union protested outside the warehouse.
Teamsters Secretary-Treasurer Daniel Grace said the union has been trying to negotiate better wages, health benefits and retirement packages for the 400 union employees at the plant, which bottles and distributes Coke products, Dasani water, iced teas and more across the region.
“We’ve been in bargaining with Liberty Coca-Cola since Feb. 15,” said Grace. “We ended up 3:30 Saturday morning in contract negotiations, and we presented the offer to our members today and they turned it down, a 5-1 margin.”
Grace said the wage proposal wasn’t enough, citing inflation at the culprit.
“The three major stumbling blocks are wages, because of the inflationary pressure that everybody’s put under today,” he said. “The medical benefits, the health and welfare. They’re looking at getting a different type of plan that doesn’t cost them as much when they use it. And then retirement. Everyone’s looking to increase their retirement.”
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The union said members plan to continue to strike around the plant until the dispute is settled.
In a statement, Liberty Coca-Cola said it has been negotiating “in good faith” with union leadership over the last few months. The company added it presented the union with “the highest wage increases in Coca-Cola/Teamster Local 830’s history.”
Liberty Coca-Cola said it has a “strong contingency plan in place” to continue delivery throughout the region.
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