Juicy Profits Not Enough, Snapple Puts the Squeeze on Union Workers

Corporate America has its swagger back—look no further than beverage giant Dr Pepper-Snapple.
The juice and soda maker is working overtime to pulverize union standards at its Williamson, New York, plant.

“The plant manager compared us to commodities in the grocery store,” noted Larry Culver, a 15-year mechanic in the upstate New York facility, “and he said we were overpriced.”

Culver’s co-workers, members of Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union Local 220, voted 272 to 15 to reject the company’s April offer to cut wages by $1.50 an hour, freeze the traditional pension, and pare down the already-meager 401(k) plan.

They authorized a strike on April 18 by a similar margin, and are now working without a contract.

OVERPAID?

According to the Dr Pepper-Snapple public relations team, tough economic times are a chance to make “corrections” to workers’ wages and benefits.

But at the table the company was far more blunt. “They told us we were overpaid,” said Culver, a bargaining team member. “And they said with 10 percent unemployment they could find people who would do our job for less.”

Having lived through two plant closings before, Culver warned that other companies in the area—including regional powerhouse Xerox—are watching closely. “We’re just a steppingstone,” he said. “If they can do this in a company with a union, what’s next?”

WALL STREET HIGH-FIVE

For Culver, the company’s attitude couldn’t be any clearer: “It doesn’t matter that we’re making money hand over fist. We don’t have to share it with you.”

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Enter Dr Pepper-Snapple CEO Larry Young, who turned up in the Big Apple yesterday to underline that point.

Young, who raked in a cool $6.5 million last year, was in town for a round of back-slapping and high-fives at Wall Street’s current fortress of evil, Goldman Sachs headquarters in lower Manhattan.
Fortunately, dozens of RWDSU members were also on hand—a welcome wagon complete with a 20-foot rat.

Thirteen-year employee Anderson Lopez, asked why the company was coming after pay and benefits, responded, “There is no good reason for it besides greed.”

PUNCHY

Reflecting on Culver, Lopez, and their co-workers, I couldn’t help thinking about another product that comes out of the Williamson facility—Hawaiian Punch.

When I was a kid, and commercials were less politically correct, Hawaiian Punch ran ads where the drink’s mascot, a cartoon character named Punchy, approached some unsuspecting tourist with the question, “How about a nice Hawaiian Punch?” and then proceeded to flatten the guy.

Workers everywhere have been taking it on the chin for too long. Here’s hoping CEO Larry Young is the one who gets decked this time.