A strike by some 500 Teamsters Union drivers, production workers and sales representatives won’t disrupt the flow of Coca-Cola products to area restaurants, supermarkets and fast food joints, said the company Tuesday.

“We have a strong contingency plan,” said Bob Phillips, a Coke spokesman.

But union representatives weren’t so sure that the company’s operations would continue smoothly without their union workers.

Paul Zilly, a spokesman for Teamsters Union Local 117, said pickets were stationed outside a handful of Coke facilities in the Puget Sound area including one in Fife and another in Parkland.

The union is striking because the company wants to eliminate post-retirement medical coverage and because Coke’s proposals include substantial hikes in the cost of medical insurance premiums for union workers.

A Coke spokesman said the proposed post-retirement medical care changes would affect only new hires and that the cost increases were not as great as the union is saying.