GLCCD Lied to Members, Company Shows Up Empty-Handed Instead of Bargaining in Good Faith
Great Lakes Coca-Cola Distribution, Inc. proved yesterday that it has no intention of fixing its relationship with the Union and instead is willing to lie and toss aside commitments made to its hard-working employees. While scheduled to negotiate employee sick days with Teamsters Local 727, GLCCD negotiators arrived to the meeting unprepared and unwilling to even make any counter proposals.
In 2016, Local 727 filed a grievance over GLCCD’s attempted unilateral implementation of a radical new attendance policy following the Company’s acquisition of Coca-Cola Refreshments. In good faith, Local 727 agreed to a modified attendance policy which cut the attendance points in half, in exchange for and in reliance on a commitment from the Company that they would negotiate over sick days which the Company had promised would be coming for the employees in July when the new Cook County Earned Sick Leave Ordinance went into effect.
GLCCD refused to keep its word and refused to meet with Local 727 following the passage of the ordinance. In fact, GLCCD only agreed to a meeting after the Union filed a subsequent grievance, pursued the grievance to arbitration, scheduled a date for arbitration, and filed an unfair labor practice charge with Region 13 of the National Labor Relations Board.
In an effort to expedite yesterday’s meeting, the Union even sent GLCCD’s lead negotiators several documents which detailed the Company’s obligations under the Sick Leave Ordinance in advance and made it clear that Local 727 would be expecting the Company to follow the ordinance and specifically offer its employees five sick days.
Negotiators for GLCCD arrived to the meeting yesterday empty-handed and left after a measly twenty minutes claiming the Company would be maintaining the “status quo” for employees covered by the GLCCD agreement and Local 727 should not expect a counter-proposal. The Company also said it would have to “get back to the Union” regarding sick days for the employees covered by the former CCR contract. Although Local 727 explained that the Union had only agreed to modify the attendance policy because GLCCD had verbally committed to addressing additional sick days after the ordinance went into effect, the Company did not budge.
“Not only did GLCCD fail to uphold its commitments yesterday,” said John Coli, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 727, “but they also completely disregarded the twelve dedicated stewards of the bargaining committee who took off of work to negotiate in good faith a fair new agreement.”
In response to the Company’s unwillingness to negotiate, Local 727 intends to present its case to an arbitrator and looks forward to an arbitrator hearing about GLCCD’s dishonesty.
“If GLCCD continues to approach negotiations with Local 727 in the same manner as they approached the meeting yesterday, they will have major problems come April when a new collective bargaining agreement is on the line,” added Coli.
Members with questions should contact Business Representative Caleen Carter-Patton at (847) 696-7500 or [email protected].
Nothing in this article should be read as the union’s waiver of any legal argument, position or additional grievance. The union does not forfeit its right to make any and all supplemental arguments.
