As hundreds of Teamsters members hit the picket lines in Texas, thousands more plan to strike at the country’s biggest brewer, Anheuser-Busch.
More than 400 union workers at a Molson Coors facility in Fort Worth went on strike Saturday after contract negotiations broke down over pay raises. The union said the company’s offers were “insulting.”
“Millions go to the CEO, billions go to Wall Street and a middle finger goes to the workers,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said of the strike. “We’re not taking the disrespect, we’re not accepting the crumbs and we’re not making concessions.”
Mr. O’Brien’s comments come after Molson-Coors reported its strongest financial year ever. According to the Canadian-American beer company’s numbers, its full-year revenue shot up 9% last year to $11.7 billion. Despite this, the firm offered less than $1 raises for most of its members, according to the Teamsters.
Molson Coors said the strike likely won’t affect its business that much, as it has excess labor at five other breweries in North America and its inventory should hold it over.
The same might not be true of Anheuser-Busch, which is facing its own potential strike from the Teamsters next month.
In December, 99% of Teamster members voted to authorize a strike on Feb. 29 if a contract isn’t reached by then. If a strike does happen, it would mean thousands of workers would be on the picket lines across the country, along with potentially millions in losses for the St. Louis beer giant.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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