BLUEFIELD, WV (WOAY) – Employees of a Coca Cola distribution center in Bluefield are planning to strike after failing to reach a contract agreement regarding wages and health insurance.
Coca Cola consolidated in Bluefield has roughly 24 employees, all of which plan to go on strike when their current contract ends on July 28.
Their union, Teamster Local 175, claims the company is proposing significant increases to how much they pay for health insurance, and that their employees are paid less than their colleagues in Charleston.
“We’ve given them a proposal that would get it done,” Union President Ken Hall said. “They spent a day considering it and ignored the entire thing. We just want the Bluefield workers treated like first class citizens, and that’s not what they’re doing now.”
During the last negotiations in 2018, the Bluefield employees went on an extended strike that lasted for 21 weeks.
