Anheuser-Busch employees part of the Teamsters labor union have voted to authorize a strike.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced Saturday that Anheuser-Busch union workers “voted by an overwhelming 99 percent to authorize a strike.”
The vote officially allows the Teamsters National Negotiating Committee to call a strike if Anheuser-Busch fails to come to terms on a strong new contract, according to the labor union.
99 Proof! pic.twitter.com/uqvXYbprta
— Teamsters (@Teamsters) December 16, 2023
Teamsters is currently seeking an agreement with the beer company that “improves wages, protects jobs, and secures health care and retirement benefits for 5,000 Teamsters across the company’s 12 U.S. breweries.”
The current contract expires on February 29, 2024.
“Teamsters stand firm in our fight for the best contract at Anheuser-Busch, and this powerful strike vote proves it. Our members’ labor, talent, and sacrifice are what put Anheuser-Busch products on the shelf, and we are committed to getting a contract that rewards and recognizes their hard work,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement. “If Anheuser-Busch’s executives can’t get their act together to negotiate an agreement that respects workers, we will see them out on the streets.”
While Anheuser-Busch has reached tentative agreements to end tiered health care and restore retiree health benefits for its employees, the labor union claims the company has “delayed negotiating on important job security issues since mid-November, despite repeated requests by the union.”
“Anheuser-Busch can’t kick this can down the road much longer. The Teamsters don’t want to be forced onto the picket line at any employer, but we are fully prepared to walk if Anheuser-Busch doesn’t get serious about negotiating a record contract that also protects good union jobs,” Jeff Padellaro, Director of the Teamsters Brewery, Bakery, and Soft Drink Conference added in a statement. “It is the workers — the dedicated and tireless members of the Teamsters — who make this company a success and who have earned to share in that success.”
Anheuser-Busch operates 12 breweries across the U.S., including one in Columbus, Ohio.
The company’s Columbus brewery resides on 138 Acres and is one of two of its breweries that brews non-alcohol beers. The brewery is also capable of brewing 10 million barrels of beer.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Ohio Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Teamsters Ready to Strike” by the Teamsters.
