MAY 2009

James P. Hoffa, General President • C. Thomas Keegel, General Secretary–Treasurer • Jack Cipriani, Director

Brewery&SoftDrinkThe Teamster Brewery and Soft Drink News

James P. Hoffa, General President • C. Thomas Keegel, General Secretary–Treasurer • Jack Cipriani, Director

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See MillerCoors on page 3

Union Leaders Hold the Line on Wages, Benefits

Unity between local unions is thefocus of the MillerCoors negotiationsnow going on in North Carolina andTexas. Members of Local 391 workingat the MillerCoors brewery in Eden,North Carolina and members of Local997 at the MillerCoors brewery inFort Worth, Texas have been withouta contract since November 2007 andJanuary 2008 respectively. Miller-Coors brewery workers in Irwindale,California, who are members of Local896, will begin negotiations soon.

As part of the communicationplan, local Miller brewery union leadersfrom the U.S. and Canada met togetherwith Brewery and Soft Drink Confer-ence officials to work on negotiationstrategies recently. Representatives fromtwo European unions who representworkers at MillerCoors (known as SAB-Miller in Europe), breweries in Belgiumand Amsterdam were guest speakers atthe same meeting.

“We are absolutely committed tosecuring the best contract possible for

all of our members at MillerCoors,”said Jack Cipriani, International VicePresident and Director of the Breweryand Soft Drink Workers Conference.“In addition, speaking with represen-tatives from SABMiller’s breweries inEurope helps us to further understandthe priorities that Miller has as a globalcompany.”

Management’s proposals in theEden and Fort Worth breweries aresimilar and include: cuts in health-carebenefits and retirement costs; attackson overtime including Sunday and hol-iday pay; ability to move workers’ jobsregardless of seniority; use of tempo-rary workers; and subcontracting any-time and anywhere. Workers in FortWorth and Eden continue to standstrong, united and Teamster proud.

Tough Negotiations

“We have already had several negotia-tion meetings with management,” saidArt Burns, President of Local 977.

Union Leaders Hold the Line on Wages, BenefitsUnion Leaders Hold the Line on Wages, BenefitsUnion Leaders Hold the Line on Wages, BenefitsUnion Leaders Hold the Line on Wages, BenefitsUnion Leaders Hold the Line on Wages, Benefits

MillerCoors ContractNegotiations Begin

The fight for passage of the Employee FreeChoice Act is really about the survival of themiddle class and the American Dream,” saidJim Hoffa, Teamsters General President.

The Employee Free Choice Act wouldmake it easier for workers to form a union,thereby restoring fairness and the promiseof the American Dream to millions ofpeople who have been shut out for far toolong. This legislation would swell theranks of the American middle class whilebeing the engine for economic growth andshared prosperity. This act will also helpemployees secure a contract in a reason-able period of time and toughen penaltiesagainst employers who violate the law. Thelegislation is supported by PresidentBarack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden,

See Employee Free Choice Now! on page 2

Employee FreeChoice Now!

Teamsters Can Help Pass Legislation

Expanding America’s Middle Class

2 | Brewery & Soft Drink News | May 2009

Even in the best of economic times unionshave had to stand their ground and fight togain improvements in wages and benefitsfor working families. Now that our countryis in the midst of an economic crisis, the

pressure from corpora-tions to slash wages andbenefits is reaching a newcrescendo. This is the fightwe are now engaged inwith MillerCoors.

Our negotiating com-mittees has some strong

advantages. We’ve made certain that negoti-ations that are simultaneously occurring inNorth Carolina and Texas are monitored byboth committees and, when possible, repre-sentatives from North Carolina sit in onmeetings in Texas and vice versa. There re-ally is no substitute for sharing informationyou have heard first-hand. This type ofstrategy is benefiting us since MillerCoorsmanagement will not be able to offer onething to workers at one plant of ours with-out the other knowing about it.

Teamster brothers and sisters inRochester, New York recently had some-thing to celebrate: a new contract with abrewer who, up until last fall, might havescaled back or even closed down. Our pri-ority was to protect Teamster jobs. HighFalls Brewery (formerly Genesee Brewery)had been a longtime company in Rochesterbut had fallen on hard times, even owingmore than $1 million in unpaid taxes. Asthe company neared its last days we begannegotiating a new contract to cover themore than 300 Teamsters working at thebrewery. Although the situation lookedbleak, the local union worked with an in-vestment company which ended up buyingthe brewery while at the same time securinga four-year contract for all of its workers.

A Message FromConference DirectorJack CiprianiWinning Strategies

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, a majority of U.S. Senators and Representa-tives, and a majority of the American people.

“Even with the support of so many, a flood of corporate cash is beingspent on a misinformation campaign on this issue. Suppressing unions ispart of a larger effort by CEOs and business interests to prevent workingpeople from getting their fair share,” Hoffa said.

Union Workers Make 28 Percent More

Working people are struggling to make ends meet today, and we are indanger of seeing the American Dream disappear. Too often, corporationsand their CEOs aren’t treating workers fairly. They cut back on health care benefits and give raises that don’t even keep up with the cost of living, while CEO salaries and profits go higher and higher.

“These millionaire CEOs and others fighting the Employee FreeChoice Act bully their employees who want a union, but these CEOswouldn’t work one day without a written contract that protected theirbenefits,” said Tom Keegel, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer. “Due to this mindset, the American middle class has lost a lot of ground and isin danger of losing more if we don’t all get involved in this fight.”

An important way to help average people get their fair share is to re-move unfair barriers to union representation and collective bargaining.The wages of workers in unions are 28 percent higher than those not inunions, and union workers are 62 percent more likely to have employerhealth coverage, and four times as likely to have a pension.

“The nation’s economic mess didn’t originate on the shop floor orfrom a union contract. It started at the highest levels of management.Their harmful ideas hurt the bottom line of their corporations. Wanting todeny workers the option of forming a union without management inter-ference is another of their bright ideas,” Keegel said.

Setting the Record Straight

The corporate interests against the Employee Free Choice Act have incorrectly portrayed the bill as eliminating workers’ rights to a secret ballot election. This is absolutely not true. The legislation simply givesworkers, not bosses, the choice in how they decide whether to form aunion, either through a majority of workers signing cards in support of theunion, or through an election.

In reality, the corporate interests who are opposed to this bill are the same ones against their employees having a real opportunity of securing fair pay, health insurance, job security and a chance of living theAmerican Dream. Greedy CEOs are realizing they are losing the ability tohold back change to a system that favors them, and they are engaged in an unprecedented campaign to mislead the public on the Employee FreeChoice Act and anyone who supports it.

Please help the Teamsters Union make sure the middle class survivesthe current economic crisis by getting involved to pass the Employee FreeChoice Act. For more information, visit www.teamster.org.

Employee Free Choice Now!continued from page 1

Just a few months ago the future did notlook bright for High Falls Brewery inRochester, New York. The worldwideeconomy was faltering and the brewery it-self was in dire straits—owing city utilitybills, taxes and more. Local 118 ofRochester had just begun bargaining anew contract for the more than 300 mem-bers they represent at the brewery but thefuture did not hold a lot of promise.

“We were contacted by the companyin October 2008 because they wanted torecapitalize their debt,” said Steve Mazza,President of Local 118. “Of course we hadan obligation to save this company—ithas been around since 1878 and was asource of civic pride in Rochester. Weconsulted with Jack Cipriani, the Directorof the Teamsters Brewery and Soft DrinkWorkers Conference. He suggested westart a dialogue with North AmericanBreweries/KPS Financial out of New York.

“The result was that KPS decided topurchase High Falls,” Mazza said. “It’s awin-win for the union and the city. Hun-dreds of people remain employed, andthe city is still known for producinggood-quality beer. What’s phenomenalabout this contract is that we won in-creases in wages for each year of the con-tract and a fix on the cost of healthinsurance—all this during a huge na-tional economic meltdown.”

KPS is a venture-capital firm whose

subsidiary, North American BreweriesInc., had recently acquired Labatt’s U.S.A.from InBev/Anheuser-Busch.

“Before the contract negotiationshad started we were going week to weekhere,” said Joe Gallina, a 27-year em-ployee of the brewery. “The economy wasbad, the company had a large tax bur-den—we were wondering if there wasstill even going to be a brewery here. Butnow, thanks to the local union, we have anew contract with wage increases plus af-fordable medical care.”

Wages will increase for each year ofthe four-year contract: 3 percent in the

first, third and fourth years, plus a $1,200bonus in the second year. Teamsters workwall to wall in the brewery in warehous-ing, bottle house, transportation, yardjockeys and more.

“We are very thankful to the localunion,” said shop steward Steve Becker, amachine mechanic with 29 years of sen-iority. “Our elected union officials wereable to partner with KPS and work withthe company and mayor of Rochester toreduce the taxes owed by High Falls. It’sa wonderful thing—the company is upand alive and we want it to be a world-class brewery.”

“Whenever we meet we always have arepresentative from Local 391 alongwith us so that they know exactly howour negotiations are progressing.”

Rene Medrano, Secretary-Treasurerof Local 896, said, “The Eden and FortWorth locals are providing informationto Local 896 so that we can provide up-dates to our members. It’s important to

know what the company puts on thetable in order to prepare for our ownnegotiations.”

With the recent MillerCoors jointventure, Teamster locals in the UnitedStates are linked more than ever to theLocal 1999 MillerCoors brewery inMontreal, known as MolsonCoors inCanada. Workers there recently lost jobs

due to product moving to anotherbrewery. Blue Moon brand productionhas now been moved to the Eden brew-ery. Fortunately, the jobs are still doneby Teamsters, and the Teamster localson both sides of the Canada/U.S. borderare strengthening their relationship andnot allowing the company’s actions todivide them.

May 2009 | Brewery & Soft Drink News | 3

MillerCoors continued from page 1

New Contract at High Falls Four-Year Contract Begins

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Take a Stand forWorking Families

Find out more about this exciting program by

talking to your local union, or on the web at

www.teamster.org/drive

A Message from General President James P. Hoffa

There are many ways for Teamsters to get involved and show support for the Employee Free Choice Act, the mostimportant legislation affecting America’s middle class in

decades. Our communities, friends, neighbors and members of Congress need to hear from real people why unions are important, and the sooner the better. This bill has broad support,but billions of dollars are being thrown at a misinformation campaign run by anti-worker groups and people are starting to believe the lies about this legislation.

It’s important to let your elected officials in D.C. know thatyou support the bill. When calling or writing, it’s helpful to in-clude your story about how you have benefited from a union orabout management intimidation during your union election.The web site for the Teamsters Union, at www.teamster.org, has a wealth of material on writing, e-mailing or talking to yourelected representatives. If you want to get directly in touch withyour congressional representative’s office, you can call the Capitolswitchboard at 800-828-0498 or e-mail them throughwww.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml.

Teamsters can also help correct myths while at the same time helping our communities understand why the Employee Free Choice Act is necessary to fix a broken system. Newspaperswelcome letters from readers and you can usually find out how tosend a letter to the editor by looking on the newspaper’s opinion page. Sample letters that you can adapt and responses to the most common arguments are on the Teamsters Union webpage devoted to the Employee Free Choice Act.

I urge every Teamster who cares about America’s middleclass to get involved and make your voice heard on this issue.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD

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