Anchor Brewing Co. employees are unionizing

Anchor Steam is one of the most iconic and important beers in America. It’s right up there with SNPA and Boston Lager and a very small handful of others, IMO — and delicious, too.

I hope that Sapporo (which bought Anchor in 2017) can bring it upon themselves to stay neutral in this process and to allow their employees to choose for themselves whether they want a union. If it becomes an ILWU shop, I will definitely have them in my fridge a lot more often. If they bust the unionization attempt by their workers, I won’t be drinking them again.

 

I have a long history with Anchor Steam and I love all of them. Whenever I go to San Francisco, I stay at The Argonaut and relish Anchor Steam on tap. It is special. Living in or near San Francisco is very expensive and I think and feel that a tight union operation can only be good for such an iconic American brewery. Good luck to them.

 

There was a brewery that the Machinists organized quite a while back in California - Mad River, maybe? Not sure of many others, except for the obvious ones like those that date - along with their union locals- from the pre-craft era like BBC in OH (as successor to Hudepohl-Schoenling), F X Matt, Schell, etc. The ILGU is great union and an iconic San Francisco institution.

 

More at
One of the World's Most Iconic Craft Breweries Is Unionizing

 

Congratulations to all the new Anchor Brewing union members. Also, congrats to the hard working union organizers that help to make this possible.
As a retired Teamster Local 344 Wisconsin member, I support as many union members as possible with my pocketbook.
I don’t need much of a reason to try a new brewery, but I have not enjoyed an Anchor beer. Shame on me . . but not for long!

 

This just doesn't have the same ring to it: One of the World's Most Iconic No-Longer-Craft-According-to-the-BA Breweries Is Unionizing

 

Retired Local 79 Florida freight humper agrees. I've got an honorable discharge, a bad back, and a fair pension. We ain't got a lot, but we haven't missed any meals, and we don't have to borrow to buy our meds. Work hard and stand tall, brothers at Anchor.

 

Pretty poor reporting. Lacking description on what happens next.

Filing a petition with the NLRB is just the first step in a long process. It may eventually lead to a vote. Statistically most times it doesn’t.

Management will almost certainly embark on a communication and engagement campaign. Can’t threaten, intimidate, or promise.....but they can educate and rebutt union promises and propaganda. Generally the discussion between management and workers improves the work environment and erodes union support.

If the union feels the vote is in doubt, they usually withdraw to avoid the embarrassment of a loss.

 

This is certainly an interesting story that I will continue to follow. To me, the definition of what is and is not a "craft" brewery doesn't matter. As a 17 year old in 1968 I got a job working for Kelly Brick Company of Philadelphia helping to build the new Schlitz Brewery in Winston-Salem. I was a union dues paying and hard-working well paid kid. As far as I know my good friend Scott A.-a noted jazz musician- still holds the record for sleeping in a Port-a-Let. We had a good time.

 

Reads to me like the union expects/hopes the company will voluntarily recognize the union and avoid an NLRB election (rare these days but it happens)

but, yeah, "The ILWU declined to say what percentage of the bargaining unit had signed union cards" doesn't sound good - a union would want to have well over a majority of employees signed given many will drop out once an aggressive anti-union campaign is mounted by the employer. You'd think the union would at least hint at a percentage in the letter.

Edit - Checked the net again this AM - the SF Weekly story reports:

The "Splinter" article said "There are approximately 70 full- and part-time employees in the bargaining unit..." but I expect that's confusion on their part, since the workers' jobs that would fall under the Bargaining Unit would yet to be decided by agreement with the union and company.

 

Just curious---if the employees vote against unionization will you still drink Anchor?

 

From the thread above it sounds like 70% of the workforce has already signed union cards. If that’s the case, Sapporo can and should recognize the union already and sit down to negotiate a contract.

What I suspect will happen instead is that the company will insist on going through the lengthy NLRB election process, during which time they will likely spend ridiculous amounts of money they could have spent elsewhere to hire union-busting consultants to help “educate” the workforce on the “dangers” of unionizing. They’ll probably implement some modest improvements in compensation or working conditions in the short run for the majority of the workforce, too, while illegally firing or otherwise making life difficult for the loudest pro-union voices.

Hope I’m wrong about that, or that even if I’m right, that the workers trust one another enough to still support unionizing. I would love to drink Anchor Steam with the ILWU bug on the label.

 

This makes sense to me. If 'big craft' is going to unionize then Anchor makes the perfect candidate for a campaign--iconic brand, progressive/liberal SF area, & all too pressing workplace issues. I'd hope to see others follow suit. Is Lagunitas (under Heineken) now union?

 

i would be surprised if Sapporo is not union.

 

Sapporo owns Sleeman Breweries in Canada. Sleeman is unionized (Teamsters Local Union 931).

Below is a link to a new story of a strike at Sleeman in 2017:

http://teamsters.ca/en/blog/2017/06/07/sleeman-unibroue-workers-go-on-strike/

Cheers!

 

IATSE Local 15 member here, and I support this development.

 

In my personal experience, many people have no idea what signing a card means. And those that think they do, only know what the union has told them. Which isn’t always consistent with the law.

That is PRECISELY why there is a formal election process.

And for the record, the business CANNOT provide any compensation changes or improvements to the workplace before the election takes place. Can’t even promise they will happen if/after the union goes away. That is an Unfair Labor Practice.

Getting 70% of a workforce to sign a union card isn’t hard. It’s basically equivalent to getting 70% of BeerAdvocates to say they’d like free beer.

 

Companies frequently engage in Unfair Labor Practices because they know they’re unlikely to get busted for it and even if they are the penalties are generally quite modest.

Also... Yes, I will gladly take a free beer. You in the 30% of BAs that doesn’t want free beer?