Teamsters Call on Coke to Stop Eliminating Good Jobs and Slashing Health Care

Employees Will Converge on the Seahawks Game at Qwest Field Saturday to Launch "Coke Wants Seattle to Lose" Campaign

SEATTLE, Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Saturday, August 21, hundreds of Coke employees who are members of the Teamsters Union, their family members, and supporters, will converge on the Seahawks game at Qwest field in an effort to halt Coke's irresponsible business practices. The elimination of good, local jobs and the decimation of health care protections for current employees and present and future Coke retirees are the inherent results of Coke's practices.

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), the world's largest marketer, producer, and distributor of Coke products, announced plans in July 2010 to shut down 3 facilities in economically-distressed parts of Washington State. Coke is also proposing the elimination of health care coverage for Coke retirees and wants its current employees to pay an 800% increase in the share of the cost of their health care premiums.

"We are increasingly frustrated that Coke, a major corporation that generated $21 billion in revenues last year, is intent on cutting good, family wage jobs, undermining health care protections for its workers, and eliminating coverage for Coke retirees, many of whom dedicated decades of their lives to the company," said John Beck, a 36-year production line worker at the Coke facility in Bellevue.

Teamsters Local Unions 38, 117, 174, 252, 313, and 589 represent approximately 500 Coke employees at four Puget Sound area locations.

SOURCE Washington Teamsters United

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