Teamsters: CCE workers to vote Oct. 7

By Jeremiah McWilliams

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Teamsters union said workers at Coca-Cola Enterprises facilities in College Park and Marietta will vote Oct. 7 on whether to be represented by the union. It's the latest step in an organizing campaign that has stirred controversy in Coca-Cola's hometown.

"We're very close to having unionized Coca-Cola employees in Atlanta," Dave Laughton, director of the union's brewery and soft drink division, said at a Sunday afternoon rally inside the meeting hall of Teamsters Local 728 in Atlanta. "If it's good for the rest of the country, it should be good for Atlanta."

The Teamsters already represent thousands of CCE employees around the country. In recent months, the union has protested against the world's biggest Coca-Cola bottler over plant closures in Washington State and a test in California that changed the way beverages were trucked to 7-Eleven, a change the Teamsters said jeopardized jobs.

CCE recently settled labor complaints with the National Labor Relations Board that allowed the Atlanta-area vote to proceed. The company did not admit any violations under the settlement.

Last month, CCE said it avoided the lengthy litigation process to allow employees to vote "at the earliest opportunity."

On Monday, the company said it was "glad that the election is scheduled so our employees have the opportunity to vote in a secret-ballot election supervised by the NLRB. We respect the right to vote. And this is what we've wanted throughout the process."

Coca-Cola Co. plans to take over CCE's North American operations -- which already include about 18,000 unionized employees -- later this year.

The organizing drives in College Park and Marietta could affect more than 330 workers. The Teamsters union says a contract with CCE would emphasize job security, annual pay increases, reduced health insurance costs, and retirement benefits.

"Who said things go better with Coca-Cola?" said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "Let me tell you something. Things go better with the Teamsters!"