A summer shortage of Coca Cola may well be coming to the UK, as workers at a main production plant for the world's leading soft drink plan strikes in a dispute over pay.
Unite said that hundreds of members working at the Coca Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) site in Wakefield will walk out in a wave of bouts of industrial action as of June 8 - with workers voting overwhelmingly in favour of walkouts.
The union said that the potential strikes come over a recent pay offer which they believe was worth an average of 6 per cent - citing that it did nothing to address the current cost of living crisis which the UK faces.
Read more: McDonald's set to axe five menu items this week, as brand new burger lands
Fourteen days of strike action would be considered by workers according to the PA News Agency, comprising of three 48-hour strikes and two 96-hour strikes spanning a two week period.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, said: "Coca Cola Europacific Partners is making profits in the billions but it’s delivering a pay cut to the very workers who are making them."
In response, a CCEP spokesperson, said: "In the current economic climate, we believe the pay rises that we are offering are very competitive within the market place. We also provide substantial additional benefits and bonuses to our colleagues, altogether this is an average total package of £46,900 for a colleague at Wakefield.
"We have also made a £1,000 payment to all frontline colleagues in the past 12 months to support the current cost-of-living challenges. Our competitive rewards package includes our share-save scheme and almost 80% of our Wakefield colleagues invest in that scheme and benefit from our ongoing success as a business."
The spokesperson, added: “We have a strong track record of supporting colleagues at our Wakefield site, allowing them to build their skills and develop their careers in a hi-tech, modern manufacturing operation, where we have invested more than £100 million in the past five years alone.
“While Unite has chosen to proceed with industrial action, we remain fully committed to maintaining talks with our colleagues at our Wakefield site and their representatives to secure a constructive outcome. We have robust contingency measures in place and are confident that there will be no disruption to our trade customers.”
Neighbourly reports that the CCEP in Wakefield is the largest soft drinks plant by volume in Europe. It is said to manufacture and distribute more than 100million cases each year.
Sprite and Fanta is also produced at the plant.
Read next:
