-The Craft Beer Blacklist-

This.

http://teamster.org/news/2014/04/teamsters-ratify-new-anheuser-busch-contract

''By a large majority, Teamsters at Anheuser-Busch’s breweries in the United States have voted to ratify a new five-year agreement covering more than 4,500 workers, the union announced today.

“This new contract with Anheuser-Busch ensures that Teamsters will continue to be the highest-compensated brewery workers in the United States,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President.

The contract is worth more than $2 billion in wages and benefits and it will take effect immediately, providing wage increases retroactive to March 1, 2014.

“We listened to our members and negotiated the best contract possible with wage and bonus increases, maintenance of excellent benefits and job security,” said David Laughton, Director of the Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference.

A-B Teamsters currently earn more than $70 per hour in total compensation – wages, health, welfare and pension benefits. The new contract provides more than $24,000 in additional wages and bonuses for the average employee over the five-year contract term.

All 12 A-B breweries in the U.S. employ members of the Teamsters who brew and bottle the brands produced by the company. The brewery locations are: Los Angeles; St. Louis; Jacksonville, Fla.; Newark, N.J.; Houston; Fort Collins, Colo.; Williamsburg, Va.; Cartersville, Ga.; Merrimack, N.H.; Fairfield, Calif.; Columbus, Ohio; and Baldwinsville, N.Y."

 

Why wouldn't you trust Wikipedia for much? Hasn't it been shown to be the most accurate encyclopedia in existence? And it's certainly the most comprehensive.

 

Agree 100%

 

Because it can be edited by anyone, at any time. For shits and giggles I changed the wikipedia page of my hometown to say something completely outrageous. Four months later, it was still there.

 

This is interesting- our local AB distributor is buying up the rights to craft brands, which is contrary to this and to the WSJ article. (we're a franchise state for beer) Since I compete against them I'll stop there.

 

Kona? castaway was a favorite of mine

 

That's like an American Belgian India Pale Ale, such as Belgo.

 

You can't convince me that the cats at Russian River and Hair of the Dog are avoiding expansion because the extra work would just not be worth the money to them. You could be right, though.

 

Lol. Now I have an excuse for not having Bourbon County yet.

 

Unless they are going to buy the rights and bury the brand.

 

I'm not saying that's why they're avoiding it; I'm saying that they are avoiding it, and that they would logically make more money if they did it; ergo they are less concerned about the profit than they are the beer.

 

Sure, there are isolated instances (many) of it being inaccurate due to vandalism, but on the whole it can't be matched. And most encyclopedias probably wouldn't even have an entry on your hometown, unless it's a fairly big city.

 

Well the WSJ article was from 2012.

 

And I'm saying that they could be concerned about the work that would go into an expansion, meaning they're less concerned about making more money than they are about not putting in any extra time and effort. Being content =/= being passionate.

 

I don't deny the Wikipedia is head and shoulders above other encyclopedias. I was just trying to point out that it, like all sources really, should also be looked at with a skeptics eye. I find that so many people, especially on internet message boards, think of Wikipedia as some kind of infallible giver of wisdom. At the end of the day, any and all information on wikipedia is coming from some primary sources, those primary sources are what should be utilized when providing guidance/information.

 

I'm talking about the corporate profits. They aren't going to the local AB workers, they are going to AB InBev's international shareholders:
http://www.ab-inbev.com/investors/shareholder-structure.html

As for the brewer's jobs- I'm sure that craft breweries create more jobs per barrel of beer produced.

 

Good God, of course corporate profits go to shareholders. It doesn't matter where they live. Are we going to get xenophobic now, too?

 

I hope you're not serious.

 

The lobbyists these major brewers employ who are allegedly stifling all competition must be pretty awful considering the near exponential growth of small craft breweries and brew pubs.

Honestly, I'm far more concerned where my food is coming from than my beer. And yet I still buy dubious stuff because I'm not a millionaire and like Cheez-its and finding a pear for under $5 or whatever.

 

I am curious. Are the folks here celebrating AB for it's union contracts people who used to boycott Coors for beung non union? Is Coors still non union?