Canadian Coca-Cola workers keep DB plan

Workers at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Brampton, Ont., will keep their DB plan and have approved a new three-year deal, officially ending a three-week-long strike.

“The real fight here was over the DB pension plan, with Coca-Cola pushing us to move to a DC plan,” says Jerry Dias, assistant to the Canadian Auto Workers national president. “We were ultimately successful in keeping the DB pension plan and improving upon it.”

The new deal also includes wage increases in the second and third years and an agreement that would end demands to outsource existing work.

The union also negotiated a weekend worker program, which includes two 12-hour premium shifts over the weekend to allow for 24-hour, seven-day-a-week production.

Production resumed on Monday.