Labor strife dominates Dr Pepper Snapple annual meeting

Source: Dallas Morning News

By KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS / The Dallas Morning News

Labor strife dominated the discussion at the annual meeting of Plano-based Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. early Thursday, as New York-based union organizers decried company plans to cut wages and benefits, even as the soft drink maker posted profits.

Workers at a Mott’s applesauce plant in Williamson, N.Y. have rejected a proposed contract that calls for a $1.50 per hour wage cut, a pension freeze for current employees and elimination of the pension for future employees, according to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents the workers.

The contract, which covers about 300 full-time employees, also cuts employer contributions to the 401K and increases employee contributions toward health care premiums and co-pays—steps many companies across a range of industries have taken as the economy tanked and health care costs soared.

While the contract dispute directly affects less than 2 percent of the company’s workforce of 19,000 – and only 7.5 percent of the unionized workforce – the showdown represents one of the first big labor disputes since the soft drink maker’s 2008 spinoff from its British parent. Candy maker Cadbury Schweppes negotiated the last contract, which expired April 15.


Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/052110dnbusdrpepper.218afa21.html

until they closed down and was a shop steward for about 14 years. Do people not realize that without unions the people without unions would be working for less than minimum wage?? Unions help keep all wages up, whether you belong to a union or not. Some people are so stupid that they work against themselves just to be part of a crowd of idiots.

Does that mean they can't contribute to their pension funds and are frozen at the current level?

If so, then that's a deal-breaker right there. People will deal with shitty jobs as long as they know they have something to look forward to at retirement.

This is a problem with management, not labor.