Teamsters criticize Coca-Cola's takeover of North American bottling operations

The Teamsters union has accused Coca-Cola of taking unnecessary risks with its U.S. distribution system by taking over the operations of mega-bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises.

The union, which represents about 15,000 employees of Coca-Cola Enterprises in North America, said on Wednesday that Coca-Cola is attempting to "radically alter its distribution process, adding third and fourth parties, extra steps, and unnecessary complications to a system that has worked well for the company, its customers and consumers for decades." The Teamsters plan a conference call for analysts and institutional investors on Friday to state their position.

"Coke's distribution experiment may look good in theory but will prove to be a costly mistake," said David Laughton, director of the Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference. Laughton predicted that the planned takeover would complicate Coke's distribution system, hurt customer relations and provoke work stoppages.