Dispute over wages: Warning strike sparked at Coca-Cola in Bad Neuenahr!

Dispute over wages: Warning strike sparked at Coca-Cola in Bad Neuenahr!

In Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, around 250 Coca-Cola employees stopped work on Sunday evening. The warning strike, which is expected to last 24 hours, is being organized by the Food-Gourmet-Gastronomy Union (NGG). The reason is the inadequate wage increase offered by the employer. While Coca-Cola is only promising a 1.5 percent wage increase for 2026, the NGG is calling for an increase of 150 euros on all wages and a five percent increase in wages for employees retroactively to September 1st. Training allowances should also increase by 120 euros in all years of training.

The NGG criticizes the employers' offer as insufficient and points out that Coca-Cola is not planning any wage increases for 2025. This blunting of wages has led to warning strikes not only in Rhineland-Palatinate, but also in other federal states such as Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein. Employees at various locations stopped work on Monday, October 20th to draw attention to concerns about their wages, reports ndr.de.

Further warning strikes announced

The NGG plans to increase pressure on employers and carry out further warning strikes at all Coca-Cola locations in Germany if an agreement is not reached. The next round of negotiations is scheduled for November 10th in Hamburg. The company emphasizes that it has an “economically viable offer” and points to the increase of 3.5 percent or 170 euros per month that has already taken place since March. It's a strange way of looking at things, according to many employees who feel that these increases simply can't cope with the rising cost of living.

But it's not just the unions' demands that are at issue, but also the fact that numerous labor disputes in Germany have shown a decline, although workloads have increased following inflation. In 2024, the Economic and Social Sciences Institute (WSI) reported 286 industrial disputes, a decrease of 26 compared to the previous year. Nevertheless, trends show that conditions for employees are increasingly deteriorating, making demands for higher wages and better working conditions increasingly louder, as shown on boeckler.de is to be read.

The situation at Coca-Cola therefore reflects a larger challenge that affects many companies and their workforces in Germany. Given the economic uncertainties and the cautious wage policy, the situation could worsen further in the coming weeks. The NGG, which operates nationwide, is determined to focus on the concerns of employees and to demand a noticeable improvement in wages.