More than 300 workers at two Chicago-area Coca-Cola production plants plan to go on strike starting at 5 a.m. Thursday to protest unfair labor practices including delay tactics and intimidation as they try to hash out a new contract, union representatives said Wednesday afternoon.<br />Teamsters Local 727, which represents 319 production and warehouse workers at Coca-Cola plants in Niles and Alsip, had agreed to Coca-Cola's request for a single-day strike delay to continue negotiations after the workers' three-year contract expired at midnight Tuesday.<br />The union expects the strike to affect production at the plants, which manufacture and bottle Coke's line of beverages, Petty said.<br />"We have no indication from the company right now that they are prepared to keep functioning while this strike is happening," he said.
