CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After two days of setting up picket lines, striking employees from Charleston and Logan for Coca-Cola said they will return to work on Thursday, May 11.
Teamsters Local 175 put out a release about the planned return Wednesday afternoon.
The president of Teamsters Local 175 said Coca-Cola Consolidated hasn’t been able to serve all of its customers with its union drivers on strike.
“Our members are concerned about their customers not receiving service,” said Ken Hall, President of Teamsters Local 175. “Coca Cola has made no attempt to service any customers other than its largest. Unfortunately, I’m not surprised by the company’s inactions. As I’ve told our members, I respect the fact that they are concerned about their customers, but I remain skeptical as to whether the company cares enough about those customers to make some attempt to resolve these disputes.”
Hall, during an appearance Wednesday on MetroNews “Talkline”, said the company has had only about about 10 percent of its trucks on the road during the two days of the strike and it’s only serving its larger customers.
“They’re only servicing their larger customers like Kroger and Walmart,” Hall said. “Their convenience stores and all of their other business–the haven’t made one attempt in two days to service them.”
A spokesperson for the company has previous told MetroNews it has a plan to get its product to its customers.
“We have a solid plan in place to continue serving our customers,” Coca-Cola Consolidated Director of Communications Natalie Arrowwood.
Hall said what’s happening in the first two days of the strike is proving a point.
“They (the company) calls about the large (customers) they deal with in many states. They don’t care about the mom and pops and the local convenience stores and that’s becoming glowingly evident,” Hall said.
Teamsters Local 175, which covers Coca-Cola drivers in the Charleston and Logan areas, went out on strike Tuesday morning. The strike is specifically over two grievances but the union’s contract with the company expired two weeks ago.
Hall said Local 175 has been able to extend its picket lines to company sites in Blue, Parkersburg and Clarksburg to keep those trucks from running too. He said their union brothers and sisters are respecting their fight.
“Our members around the state understand that if they don’t stick together they are going to have a problem with the company because they are going to try and pick them off one at a time,” Hall said.
There are approximately 200 union workers impacted by the work stoppage.