Teamsters Authorize Strike Against Bud Light Maker Anheuser-Busch

Teamsters employees at Anheuser-Busch voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if a new contract is not reached, the union announced Saturday.

The vote, which came in at 99% in favor, gives the Teamsters National Negotiating Committee the ability to call a strike if the global beer maker and its unionized employees fail to reach an agreement by the current contract’s Feb. 29 expiration.

The union said it is looking to improve wages, protect jobs and secure health care and retirement benefits for its 5,000 members across the company’s 12 U.S. breweries.

“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,” Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien said in the statement.

Last month, Anheuser-Busch reached tentative agreements with the union to restore health benefits and end its tiered health care program, but the union said the company has delayed negotiation on job security issues since mid-November.

“Anheuser-Busch can’t kick this can down the road much longer,” said Jeff Padellaro, director of the Teamsters brewery, bakery, and soft drink conference. “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.”

Anheuser-Busch did not immediately respond to The Messenger’s request for comment.

While no dates are currently set for negotiations, the Teamsters said they have recently rallied in New Hampshire, California and Florida, with more actions soon to be carried out across the country.

The Teamsters have taken hardline stances in several contract negotiations this year, carrying out practice pickets of several companies in displays of solidarity among workers. In July, shipping giant UPS narrowly avoided a strike of 340,000 unionized employees, reaching a historic and “overwhelmingly lucrative” contract. Had the strike not been avoided, it would have been the largest against a single employer in U.S. history and one of the costliest, a report from Anderson Economic Group said at the time.

Earlier this month, more than 1,100 union workers at DHL Express's air cargo hub near Cincinnati went on strike to protest unfair labor practices at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.