‘No Contract. No Beer.’ Union prepares for strike at Central NY’s Anheuser-Busch brewery

Anheuser-Busch employees rally ahead of a possible Teamsters union strike at the Lysander plant Wednesday, February 21 ,2024. N. Scott Trimble | [email protected]

Kate Benoit has worked at the Anheuser-Busch brewery just outside Baldwinsville for 16 years, following in father’s footsteps at the company. She hopes a third generation of her family might join one day.

On Wednesday, she brought her school-age kids, Brielle and Bryce, to the plant on Route 31 in the Radisson business park. They joined a rally by dozens of fellow Teamster union workers ahead of a possible strike against Anheuser-Busch.

Like the others at the rally, Benoit and her kids carried signs with slogans like “Respect Brewery Teamsters: Save American Jobs,” “Anheuser-Busch, This Round’s On You,” and “Raise The Bar on Wages.”

Another popular sign was “No Contract. No Beer,” which was also a popular chant from the workers at the plant that produces Budweiser, Bud Light and other beers and beverages.

Kate Benoit, a second generation Anheuser-Busch employee, marches with her children Brielle, 9, and Bryce, 7, as Teamster union members rally ahead of a possible strike at the Lysander plant Wednesday, February 21 ,2024. N. Scott Trimble | [email protected]

“They could be the next generation to work here,” Benoit, of Central Square, said of her kids. “But we have to save the jobs. That’s why we’re out here.”

The Teamsters represent more than 5,000 workers at the 12 breweries operated by Anheuser-Busch InBev in the United States. The union said in December its members will walk out at all 12 plants if there is no new contract when the current deal expires at midnight on Feb. 29.

A strike by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters would include the 373 members of Teamsters Local 1149 working at the Baldwinsville brewery. The plant, the largest brewery in New York state, has a total workforce of more than 500.

Workers at Wednesday’s rally said wages, health benefits and job security are all major issues, with job protection being the top priority.

“Wages are important, because, you know, everything is more expensive,” said Kyle Toney, who has been with the company for seven years and works on the packaging floor. “But we want them (the company) to know that it’s important to keep our jobs. They need to show they value what we do.”

Anheuser-Busch employees rally ahead of a possible strike at the Lysander plant Wednesday, February 21 ,2024. N. Scott Trimble | [email protected]

Benoit said she and the other workers stand in solidarity if the company should decide to cut jobs or close any of the breweries.

“We have 5,000 jobs now,” she said. “There should be 5,000 jobs, at least, in the future.”

Joe Farrance the principal officer at Local 1149, noted there were once 14,000 union jobs in Anheuser-Busch’s U.S. breweries. Much of the loss in union jobs came through automation of things like bottling and canning lines.

Farrance said the company as of now is only guaranteeing to keep all 12 breweries open through the end of 2024.

“Not more cuts,” he said. “That’s what we’re here for.”

On Feb. 1, the Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien issued a statement demanding the company make an better offer and warning that a strike against the company seemed “imminent and unavoidable.”

An Anheuser-Busch spokesperson provided this statement to syracuse.com about Wednesday’s union rally:

“We’re aware of the Union demonstration at our Baldwinsville Brewery, which is common during labor negotiations, and our top priority remains securing a contract that recognizes and rewards the talent, commitment and drive of our employees and continues to provide the best jobs in the beer industry; as a precautionary measure, we have a robust continuity plan in place to ensure we will continue bringing our industry-leading brands to our valued customers and consumers across the country.”

Budweiser employees practice a strike as a result of unsettled labor union agreements in front of the Lysander plant Wednesday, February 21 ,2024. N. Scott Trimble | [email protected]

Last week, 400 Teamsters members went on strike against a Molson Coors brewery in Fort Worth, Texas. which could have impacts on distribution of those products, especially in the west.

If the Anheuser-Busch strike happens, that would mean workers walking out at two of the nation’s largest beer-makers.

Strikes against food and beverage producers put pressure on those companies because their products typically have a short shelf life, said Patrick Penfield, professor of supply chain practice at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management.

That’s why strikes against such companies usually don’t last for “a protracted time,” he said.

““Their products are perishable — for beer it’s about four months to a year in many cases,” he said. “The dilemma is they (the companies) have products in the pipeline, but it’s not going to last them forever.”

That, coupled with a recent general turn toward labor in contract negotiations, leads Penfield to think that “the Teamsters are likely to get what they want.”

The plant in the Radisson business park, known within the company as the “Baldwinsville Brewery,” opened in 1976. It was initially operated by Schlitz Brewing Co. Anheuser-Busch bought it in the early 1980s, and after a brief shutdown for renovations reopened it in 1983.

In 2008, Anheuser-Busch was taken over by InBev, a Belgium-based global beer conglomerate, creating the new company, Anheuser-Busch InBev. It is the largest beer company in the world.

The Baldwinsville brewery makes about 75 different beverages, totaling around 6 million barrels per year (the equivalent of 82 million cases). It is larger than the next two big New York state breweries, Genesee in Rochester and F.X. Matt (Saranac) in Utica.

As recently as 2021, about 60 percent of the brewery’s total output was Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch, Michelob Ultra and other classic “A-B lagers.” Another 10 percent were “craft” beers under brands purchased by A-B, and the remaining 30 percent includes flavored alcohol beverages, seltzers and other non-beer drinks. It continues to branch into more hard seltzers and other specialty products.

Don Cazentre writes for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at [email protected], or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.

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