Hundreds of employees of the beverage giant Coca-Cola walked down their jobs on Thursday and demanded more money at rallies in Dortmund and Lüneburg. They want a monthly salary of 400 euros more and more money for trainees. Warning strikes had also recently taken place in other federal states.
In December, the employer side announced a wage plus of 100 euros and a one-off inflation compensation bonus of 1,000 euros. That was a “slap in the face” for the employees, said Freddy Adjan, who negotiates for the union Food, Enjoyment and Restaurants (NGG). What is important is a table-effective wage increase, not the one-off payment. The group’s chief negotiator, Gero Ludwig, said that the government’s offer, which recommends a tax-free one-time payment combined with moderate wage agreements, would be followed.
Negotiations will continue on Wednesday. In the event that there is no agreement, Adjan announced: “Then we will enter into disputes that Coca-Cola has not yet had.” It cannot be that Coca-Cola is currently earning so much money and that the employees don’t get through so much.
Coca-Cola has 28 locations with 6500 employees in Germany. According to an NGG spokeswoman, a good 500 employees from NRW locations met for the rally in Dortmund, and a good 500 employees from locations in Lower Saxony, Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein came to Lüneburg. According to a Coca-Cola spokeswoman, more than 300 employees took part in the warning strikes at the NRW locations. Accordingly, production there stood still on Thursday – as also during the one-day warning strikes in various federal states in the past few days. Deliveries to customers have been partially postponed.
