May 12—BLUEFIELD — Striking Coca Cola workers in West Virginia have decided to return to work, the Teamsters Local 175 announced Thursday.

The Coca Cola facility in the Bluewell area was among the ones involved in the strike across West Virginia.

Striking employees at Coca Cola facilities in Charleston and Logan were returning to work on Thursday, Teamsters officials stated in a press release.

"Although the company has made no attempt to address open grievances or any other issues for that matter, the striking workers have decided to return to work," Teamsters officials said in the announcement Thursday. "The decision was made in the hopes, once again, that the company will come to its senses and act more responsibly towards their employees and their customers."

"Our members are concerned about their customers not receiving service" said Ken Hall, President of Teamsters Local 175. "Despite the company's earlier public statement that 'we have a solid plan in place to continue serving our customers' the fact is, since the strike began the company has sent out 10-15 percent of their delivery trucks. Coca Cola has made no attempt to service any customers other than its largest. Unfortunately, I'm not surprised by the company's inactions. As I've told our members, I respect the fact that they are concerned about their customers, but I remain skeptical as to whether the company cares enough about those customers to make some attempt to resolve these disputes."

The Union also represents Coca-Cola employees in Bluefield, Clarksburg and Parkersburg. On April 23 members unanimously rejected Coca Cola's final offer. The vote was, in part, based on the company's insistence on giving away jobs, Teamster officials said.

Coca Cola has made an agreement with Sheetz to move work away from West Virginia employees to a direct ship method. Although the members are returning to work, they will continue to work day to day so another strike could happen at any time, Teamsters officials said.

— Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com

Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com