Coca-Cola workers in Western Washington ended a week long strike on Tuesday over contract negotiations. A spokesman for the Teamsters Local 117, which represents the workers says that the company's canceling of their health care worried many employees, especially those with chronic health conditions, and so they felt that they should return to work before resuming bargaining. Coca-Cola canceled the strikers' health insurance soon after the strike began, and the union has filed a class-action lawsuit and a charge of unfair labor practice with the National Labor Relations Board. Workers say that the last deal offered by the company would have had them pay 25% of their health care coverage. The two sides are due to resume talks today.
See "Coca-Cola workers end strike in Bellevue, Western Washington", Joshua Adam Hicks, Seattle Post Intelligencer, September 1, 2010