USA: Union members at Miller Brewing Co.'s breweries in North Carolina, Texas and California approve strike option

Union members at Miller Brewing Co.'s breweries in North Carolina, Texas and California have overwhelmingly approved going on strike unless the union and company can agree on new labor contracts, The Washington Business Journal posted June 22.

Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters voted 1,095 to 7 to give strike authorization to their bargaining committees, a Teamsters statement released June 21 said.

"Employees say they have been forced to prepare to strike, due to SABMiller's (Miller's parent company) inflexibility on the issue of health care," the statement said.

The union is currently negotiating labor contracts for employees who work at three breweries: Eden, North Carolina; Fort Worth, Texas; and Irwindale, California. In all of the locations, union members are working under extensions of contracts that expired at midnight Saturday, June 17.

The union said the company recently rejected a union proposal that would have saved SABMiller a "significant amount of money." The company instead held its bargaining stance that would require workers to pay a "sizable monthly contribution" for health care coverage, the union said.

"If it takes going out on strike to show Miller that it needs to do the right thing by its workers, then that's where we will go next," said Jack Cipriani, Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Conference director.

The Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference represent more than 1,500 workers at the three Miller plants. Average pay at the Eden brewery is $24 per hour. SAB Miller is one of the largest employers in Rockingham County and if workers do strike the county will no doubt feel the effects.

"It would hurt us in ways I can't even describe," Lisa Perry, president of the Partnership for Economic Development, said. Beyond the direct impact to the local economy, Perry said a strike at the Eden plant could hurt new business recruitment as well.

"Any sort of strike is negative, very negative in terms of economic development," Perry said, adding that many companies are looking to relocate to the South to escape labor unions.

The Eden brewery may be facing other woes in the near future as well. The Patriot Ledger reported Wednesday that Freetown, Massachusetts, approved incentives to Boston Beer Company to build a new brewery there. The new facility could allow Boston Beer Company makers of Samuel Adams brand beers to end contracts with the SAB Miller's Eden and Rochester breweries.

Officials with the company told the Patriot Ledger a decision on where to build the new plant could come in the next three to six months.

Union leaders and SAB Miller officials will take up contract talks again this Sunday in Las Vegas. Gammon said Teamsters President Jim Hoffa will attend the meeting.

"As negotiations continue, we remain hopeful that an agreement that is satisfactory to all parties will be reached," Miller spokesman Pete Marino said.

The Teamsters union doesn't represent workers at Miller's Milwaukee brewery. A majority of hourly employees at the Milwaukee plant are represented by Brewery Workers Local 9 and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 10.

A 1995 strike at the Albany, Georgia, plant is the only work stoppage Miller Brewing experienced in the last 20 years. The strike lasted four days and included 515 employees with the International Association of Machinists.

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