Refresco

After 11 and a half months of negotiations and struggle, and two years after they first voted to join UE, workers at the Refresco bottling plant ratified their first union contract on June 29 and 30; workers received immediate pay raises when it went into effect the next day. The contract includes significant pay increases, strong health and safety language, and protections against workers being forced to work 12-hours shifts, all major issues that fueled the organizing campaign.

UE Local 115 members from the Refresco bottling plant in Wharton, NJ attempted to bring their concerns about conditions in their plant to the corporate headquarters of private equity firm KKR on Tuesday, February 28. It was the second attempt the workers have made to meet with KKR, which owns a majority stake in Refresco. For a second time, KKR refused to meet with the workers.

“We went to the building, we tried to talk to someone at KKR, and did it respectfully,” said Refresco worker Pamela Burgos. “All we’re asking for is equal rights and our rights as workers. We just want to be able to have a meeting with them so we can discuss our issues.”

Workers from the Refresco bottling plant in Wharton, NJ traveled to New York City on Wednesday to deliver a petition to the private equity firm which owns their company — and to meet with major institutional investors in that firm.

The workers are members of UE Local 115, and are currently in negotiations for a first union contract. As negotiating committee member César Moreira explained, they are fighting for “three basic demands” which are “things that everyone should have as a right” — decent wages and benefits, health and safety at work, and fair schedules.

After beating company union-busting and winning a second NLRB election in May, more than 200 workers at the Refresco bottling plant, members of UE Local 115, are finally at the bargaining table with their employer. The elected union negotiating committee has been meeting regularly with the company since July, and has already reached agreement on several issues.

For more than two years, over 200 workers who bottle Gatorade, BodyArmor, Juice Bowl, Arizona Iced Tea, and Tropicana Juices for Refresco, the world’s largest independent bottling company, have been fighting to secure a measure of justice at work. With their second NLRB election win in less than a year, they are one step closer to winning it.

This week, approximately 240 workers at the Refresco bottling plant in Wharton, New Jersey overcame a brutal anti-union campaign to vote for UE a second time, reaffirming their June 2021 union victory.