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Work in a Coca-Cola factory
Photo: DARREN WHITESIDE/ REUTERS
Hundreds of employees of the beverage giant Coca-Cola walked down their jobs this 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 increase 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-Genuss-Gaststätten (NGG).
What is important is not the one-time payment, but a table-effective wage increase, i.e. a permanent increase in the salary system.
The company's chief negotiator, Gero Ludwig, said the government's offer would be followed.
She recommends a tax-free one-off payment with moderate wage agreements at the same time.
Negotiations will continue on Wednesday next week.
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 making so much money and with the employees arrive so little.
Production in Dortmund came to a standstill
Coca-Cola has 28 locations in Germany with 6,500 employees.
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 in 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 was the case during the one-day warning strikes in various federal states in the past few days.
Deliveries to customers have been partially postponed.
mamk/dpa-AFX