SOUTH FORT WORTH, Texas — Members of Teamsters Local 997 at Molson Coors here are standing firm in their strike against the brewery bosses. The strike began Feb. 17 after 93% of the local’s members voted to reject the bosses’ contract proposal. The workers are fighting for pay raises and the elimination of two-tier health care and retirement benefits.
The brewery produces Miller Lite, Coors Light, Yuengling, PBR, Topo Chico and Simply Juices for the entire Western U.S. region.
Negotiations broke down March 28 when management added just 5 cents an hour to its original proposal of a 99-cent-an-hour raise. The union rejected this, saying it was a slap in the face, and continues to picket 24/7.
“I am out here for everyone else,” mechanic Chad Jones told the Militant. “My Dad worked here and he retired after 30 years. He would be walking the picket line with us, but he’s recovering from cancer. We’ve gotten a lot of support. Three weeks ago, eight members of the United Auto Workers at a Coors brewery in Trenton, Ohio, rented a van and drove here. They brought tents, coolers and pizza.
“We haven’t had a pay raise since 2010,” he said. “We work under different contracts depending on when you were hired. We want to get rid of the tiers. A guy coming in now has to work two years just to get a week’s vacation. I want all of us to be under the same contract.
“Only two union members have crossed,” he said. “The company has hired temp workers, but this is the season they usually hire temps.”
Jones pointed to a smokestack and said, “If those stacks are making clouds then they’re brewing beer. We haven’t seen any clouds since the beginning of the strike.”
“At the beginning of the strike we stopped trucks for five minutes,” Justin Southern, president of Teamsters Local 997 with 18 years as a packaging operator, told the Militant. “The company has taken us back to court two times and got temporary restraining orders. The first order said we could stop trucks for no more than 90 seconds. The latest one said we can’t hold up trucks at all.
“We’ve gotten a lot of solidarity. The United Auto Workers has been out here, the Texas AFL-CIO from Austin just came out,” he said. “The Teamsters in Dallas and at UPS have come out to picket.”
“I support everything they are doing. I stand behind my husband,” said Carrie Southern. “He is just trying to support his family. A lot of families come out here. My daughter is here today.”