Union Strike Causes Dearth of Coca-Cola

Anyone with an irresistible craving for Coca-Cola had best amass a large supply quickly. If a meeting today does not succeed in ending the two week old local coke producers' strike, the beverage will soon be unavailable in the Boston area.

A union representative will meet this morning with a spokesman from the Boston Coca-Cola Bottling Company and a federal mediary to try to settle the union's demand for higher wages and better working conditions.

Now paid $2.05 an hour, the union workers are asking for a 16-cent an hour incentive this year followed by a 9-cent jump next year. Ralph Gilman, business agent for the union, says that until now the company has refused to even consider the union's proposal.

Gilman said that the strike may not affect the availability of Coke in restaurants but that some supermarkets have run out of it already and others will soon.