Anchor Brewing Co. employees are unionizing

I think you are a tad bit confused-

 

you make little sense-

 

Cars built in the 50's and 60' were and are iconic- I literally wrote 70's And 80s cars were mostly crap, sort of like the way rambling about nonsense is a waste of time- The car industry was one example- I don't want to waste too much time expounding on stupid and often inaccurate rebuttal

 

You are a really funny guy- are you by chance a a comedian?

 

WTF is that supposed to mean- Gimme a break

 

Thanks for all 5 of your replies.

I think we both agree that 70s and 80s cars were crappy. I wrote that cars in 50s and 60s cars were amazing as a counterexample to your point about the 70s and 80s. I was in no way confused by what time period you were referring to, which I addressed in litterally the next sentence. Perhaps you didn't read that far?

Hubris. People who write books and articles about what happened in Detroit in the 70s use the word a lot, as in frequently, to describe the attitudes of upper management that led to the downfall of the big 3. I fail to see how the meaning of that sentence is unclear.

 

Good for them.

The main reason I left the beer industry was because I was not compensated for all my hard work. Health insurance was dangled in front of me like a carrot, but never given to me after 3.5 years at the company. After having an injury in the brewery that the owners did not care about, I knew it was time to leave this industry.

There's a good reason why so many breweries are staffed with kids in their early 20s. These kids don't know any better.

 

Looks like the voting wraps up this afternoon. A huge THANK YOU to all our brothers and sisters at Anchor who’ve gone out on a limb to demand respect for workers within the craft beer industry. Best of luck today!

 

Hell yeah:

https://missionlocal.org/2019/03/i-...wery-workers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-unionize/

 

Using patriotic tropes to try and guilt people into buying your cars while simultaneously shipping production down to Mexico wasn't the best move, apparently. Who could have guessed?

 

So wages dropped when Sapporo picked them up? Again I ask, what's to stop them from closing up shop and moving work to another region? That or have severe cutbacks. Instead of 70 workers, they may be able to get by with 50. I wouldn't call this a glowing win just yet.

Every year, they lost something. I think I'd begin to look for another job. It just may not be worth it for Sapporo to keep things running with all these demands.

Another poster mentioned. Would we pay an extra $2/six pack for 'fair' wages? I honestly don't think I would.

 

No, people likely wouldn't buy it for an extra $2 a sixer. But it's unlikely that the price would increase anywhere near that much. As has been previously mentioned, labor is a relatively small percentage of the final price of a beer.

 

If they would work for free, just think how happy we would be.

 

A lot of breweries do just that — illegally asking for “volunteers” to work their canning lines. Imagine how much their $20+ four-packs would cost if they had to pay union wages and benefits like Budweiser?

 

They could still cost $20 - a lot of the hazy ipas and pastry beers sold at that price point don't cost near that much to make, and some of those breweries are making crazy profits off those releases. Of course, the smart ones are reinvesting those profits, but imagine if they decided to invest more in their workforce...

 

Congrats to those at Anchor who fought & voted for this, I hope the contract bargaining goes well. I also hope others in the industry take notice and decide to join, because at this point I don't see any other good path to liveable wages that acknowledge the true value of our skilled labor.

 

As a retired Temster after putting in 27 years of driving at the world’s largest package delivery company, yes that one, I can assure you that unions are not our country’s enemy.
Companies will say and do anything to stop them from organizing. This not the time nor place to get into that discussion.
But unless you or someone close to you has been a member of a union, please stop with the bullshit lies and half truths. Buy their beer or boycott, but stop bashing unions out of ignorance.

I support Anchor Brewing in their effort to unionize. They have the right. It’s their choice. Not mine. Not yours.
Made my first purchase from Anchor Brewing last week.

 

Not quite sure what "Sapporo picked them up" means. Do you mean Sapporo "picked up" the wages after being cut? Or does "picked up" mean when the brewery was purchased by Sapporo?

The way I read the Mission Local story is that most of the cuts in wages and benefits happened "....after Maytag left the scene..." so those that happened before September, 2017 were done under the Griffin Group* ownership.

Again I reply that it could be interpreted by the Board of the courts as an "Unfair Labor Practice" and so a violation of Federal Labor Law (this would be more likely if Sapporo owns other US facilities) but, ultimately, in the current era no law or fines, etc., can keep a business from closing or moving.

But if that fear was a reason not to organize there'd no unions (since even the public sector workers' jobs can be contracted out).

Anything is possible, but a company that has continued to cut wages and benefits (and, IIRC, from the earlier article, employs part-timers or otherwise limits weekly work hours to avoid paying benefits) likely doesn't have a lot of "excess" workers to begin with. Obviously any contract would contain job protection clauses to try to limit layoffs and maintain the current workforce numbers.

Anyone familiar with the current state of labor organizing in the US wouldn't either, since often negotiating the first contract proves as, or even more, difficult as the initial NLRB election for recognition.

* Fritz Maytag quoted in that 2010 Press Release announcing the sale to Griffin Group:

"Generations to come" or "around 7 years" - which ever comes first.

 

Cheers from a fellow UPSer. However, I’ve only been there 12 years and non union. Hope you’re enjoying your retirement as you earned it.