Hammond to Boycott Pepsi in Support of Union
(photo courtesy of our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowHammond Mayor Tom McDermott has announced the city will boycott Pepsi and Pepsi-related products if the company does not come to a resolution with union workers from the nearby bottling plant in Munster. Union drivers have been on strike since mid-July over healthcare benefits.
Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana reported last month the union wants worker-paid health insurance premiums capped at the current $14 per week rate, while the company wants to raise the premiums by $20 per week in each year of a new contract, totaling $81 per week by 2025.
McDermott says the city will terminate all of its Pepsi contracts if a resolution isn’t reached by August 20.
“We’ve been good to Pepsi. We do a lot of business with them, but I can’t in good conscience continue to be a customer if they aren’t using union drivers,” McDermott said in a news release. “This is about treating workers with the respect they deserve. Hiring scab drivers and allowing trucks to go in and out across the picket line is just a further insult to the union workers. I have always stood by the right to organize and the right of workers to make just demands on management. I hope that Pepsi will see the light and sit down with the Teamsters and resolve this dispute.”
Pepsi previously told The Times the strike is “disruptive to all parties involved,” but has not commented on negotiations.
Union production workers at the Munster plant previously agreed to a new contract with Pepsi, however those workers operate under a separate contract than the drivers.