The Teamsters came to Denver on Wednesday to share the story of a brewery in Eden, N.C.
This brewery, open since 1978, was the birthplace of Miller Genuine Draft and employs more than 500 workers in a city of just over 15,000 people.
In September it was handed a death sentence by owner MillerCoors, the joint venture of SABMiller and Molson Coors. The brewer of Miller Lite, Blue Moon and Coors Light deemed Eden unnecessary: Declining sales and another brewery 200 miles away had created inefficiencies in brewing capacity.
Labor union members picketing Molson Coors’ annual shareholder meeting in Denver on Wednesday morning called the planned closure an anti-competitive move that will result in higher beer prices for consumers. The closure, expected in September, was announced just days before the merger talks between SABMiller and Anheuser-Busch InBev became public, the Teamsters said.
About two-dozen Teamsters picketed to highlight these concerns and developments that have occurred since the closure was announced, notably a lawsuit by Pabst Blue Ribbon’s owner alleging that shuttering the Eden plant would result in MillerCoors not having sufficient capacity to keep brewing PBR and other beers. North Carolina’s attorney general also is looking into the closure.
“There are a lot of little pieces,” said David Laughton, director of the Brewery Workers’ Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. “If put all together, it’s a big puzzle of why did you do it?”
Molson Coors is waiting for its share of the blockbuster $108 billion AB InBev-SABMiller deal, which cleared another regulatory hurdle this week, when the European Union gave its blessing. As part of the big beer merger, Molson Coors agreed to pay $12 billion to buy out its partner in MillerCoors.
Laughton said he hopes shareholders are aware that the fight over Eden could delay the acquisition.
“They’re supposed to be absolutely responsive to their shareholders and what’s in their interest,” he said. “Prove to us that (closing Eden) is in the best interest of their shareholders.”
North Carolina attorney general’s spokeswoman Samantha Cole confirmed that investigators are “looking into the relevant conditions around the closing of the brewery and ensuring that the merger does not have a negative effect on consumers.”
Molson Coors’ brass heard the Teamsters’ pleas on Wednesday, but there is no intention to keep that Eden brewery open, said Colin Wheeler, a spokesman for the Denver- and Toronto-based company. MillerCoors is open to selling the brewery but as of Wednesday had not received “any substantive or firm offers,” he said.
“The top priority has always been handling the closure with dignity and respect for employees, their families and the community at large,” Wheeler said “We are pleased that the (National Labor Relations Board) has validated that MillerCoors did not violate labor laws with our decision to close Eden, the timing of the decision or how the decision was communicated to the union. Over the past few weeks, MillerCoors has worked collaboratively with Teamster leadership to reach a brewery closure agreement that provides fair severance packages that include severance pay and an extension of health care benefits.”
