CRIME Investigates 'Coke' Strike; Pickets, Company Clash on Scene

The CRIMSON crossed picket lines yesterday to determine the causes of the Coca-Cola strike which has deprived the Cambridge community of the pause that refreshes. We witnessed a vivid instance of the ill will growing out of the week-old dispute.

Entering the Soldier's Field Road office of the Coca-Cola Bottling Co., we learned that all the company's executives were involved in meetings to decide the management's next move. We left the office in search of a representative of the striking delivery men.

"There he is!" As we left the building we were surrounded by a group of what we correctly took to be the picketing Coke workers. "Hey, kid, do you know what a picket line is?" one of the men asked menacingly.

"Well, generally..."

"Don't they teach you about strikes and picket lines at Harvard?" another striker asked. He had noticed our Coop notebook. "You crossed a picket line, don't you realize that?"

We guessed that we had, adding that we didn't deliver anything and that "we didn't do anything to hurt your strike."

"Well, okay," they relented. "There aren't all thugs on picket lines, you know."

It developed that we had come at a bad moment. The Coke company had just warned the strikers to "keep moving" and had sent for a policeman to keep the picketers off the grass around the building. In retaliation, the union had countered by refusing to allow employees to go home in yellow Coke trucks. "It's this kind of thing that causes violence," the local president warned.

The strike, which rose over a wage dispute--the Coke men were being paid less than the Pepsi and 7-Up drivers--is far from settlement, according to the president.

The Pepsi-Cola company faced a similar strike last summer. Drivers stayed away from the Brighton plant for over one month.