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Bigfoot Beverages workers strike
Teamsters members working at Oregon’s Bigfoot Beverages, one of the largest drinks distributors in the Pacific Northwest, went on strike last week to protest the company’s pension plans.
Members of Teamsters Local 324 and 206 walked out of Bigfoot Beverages facilities in Coos Bay, Eugene, Roseberg, and Newport at midnight on 19 September.
The union claims that “Bigfoot Beverage is trying to force workers to move from a defined-benefit pension plan to a 401(k) plan”.
In August, the Teamsters voted “overwhelmingly” to authorise a strike at Bigfoot Beverages over the retirement benefits issue, and they also engaged in a practice picket outside of Bigfoot Beverage’s corporate headquarters.
In response, Bigfoot Beverages issued the following table to support its claims that the 401(k) was the better option:
Just prior to the strike, Bigfoot Beverages co-president Eric Forrest said: “We came to the table with raises for each employee, an extremely generous 401(k) retirement plan plus a signing ratification bonus of US$2,500 each yet we were rejected without allowing our team members to vote on our offer. Our offer increases wages significantly, but we felt it was also important to provide a new retirement plan that is 100% vested upon completion of probation, transparent, flexible, and portable for each of our team members.”
However, Teamsters members did not mince their words about what they thought about it.
“We’re not going to be appeased by the crumbs Bigfoot tosses our way,” said Geoff Stewart, secretary-treasurer of Local 206. “They can’t get us to flush our pensions down the drain for a one-time cash offer of US$2,500. Bigfoot’s proposal is a monstrous insult to our intelligence.”
Mark Davison, Teamsters Western Region international vice president, said: “Being a good community partner starts with being a good employer. Bigfoot needs to do that by dropping the unreasonable, concessionary demand that our members jeopardise their retirement security.”
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