More than 300 workers at two Chicago-area Coca-Cola production plants plan to go on strike starting at 5 a.m. Thursday to protest unfair labor practices including delay tactics and intimidation as they try to hash out a new contract, union representatives said Wednesday afternoon.
Teamsters Local 727, which represents 319 production and warehouse workers at Coca-Cola plants in Niles and Alsip, had agreed to Coca-Cola's request for a single-day strike delay to continue negotiations after the workers' three-year contract expired at midnight Tuesday.
The union expects the strike to affect production at the plants, which manufacture and bottle Coke's line of beverages, Petty said.
"We have no indication from the company right now that they are prepared to keep functioning while this strike is happening," he said.