Workers on strike: Coca-Cola canceled our health care coverage
KOMO Staff | KOMO.com
August 25, 2010
The 500 Coca-Cola employees who have walked off the job earlier this week claim the company has canceled their health care even though they’ve already paid their premium.
The Teamsters, which represents the striking employees, said the company has “taken action to punish the 500 striking workers” by canceling health care benefits through the end of August.
Coca-Cola could not be immediately reached to verify this information.
“This further demonstrates Coke's ruthless business model that puts corporate profits over the health and well-being of its own hardworking employees,” said Tracey A. Thompson, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 117 and the lead negotiator for Washington Teamsters United.
The union, which claims the company is trying to eliminate health care for retirees and to raise employees’ health care premiums by 800 percent, said its members expected to have health coverage until the end of the month.
The disgruntled workers, who are members of six local chapters of the Teamsters, went on strike on Monday claiming the company failed to bargain in good faith with employees, resulting in a deadlock in negotiations, which began in April. The workers have been working without a contract since May 15, when their last contract expired.
“I gave them 29 years of service. They’ve only given me nine,” said Coca-Cola retiree Jerry Anderson, whose wife just had a stroke.
“We haven’t been engaged in meaningful bargains with them since June. They’ve been engaging in intimidating tactics, surveillance and all sorts of fair labor bargaining practices,” Thompson said. “The negotiators didn’t have the authority to negotiate over key issues. They’ve just never really come to the table to bargain.”
According to the Teamsters, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is investigating the company for violations of federal labor law, including surveillance of its employees, and threatening to retaliate against workers for engaging in protected activities. The workers said managers watched and intimidated employee who handed out leaflets outlining their gripe outside Qwest Field and supermarkets.
“It’s total intimidation when your managers are there and you’re doing something to highlight what the company has been engaged in. And management is there taking pictures of you — that’s incredibly intimidating,” said Thompson.
However, Bob Phillips, Coca-Cola’s vice president of public affairs, told KOMO News late Monday the company is willing to negotiate, and is just waiting on a call back from the union.
“We have been willing to negotiate. We’ve given the union ample opportunity to negotiate. They have not been flexible on date; however, we’ve been more than willing to negotiate,” he said.
Phillips said the company “does not engage in intimidation in any shape, order or form.”
“We always and will continue to assure and productive workplace,” he said. “We always have and we will continue to treat all employees with dignity and respect.”
The strike affects all six Coca-Cola facilities in Western Washington.
Read more @ KOMO News.
