Bob McCarty Writes

In a post one month ago, I focused on the impact a foreign company’s takeover of Anheuser-Busch would have on St. Louis residents and charitable organizations. Today, the Teamsters are raising doubts about the future of the largest U.S. brewer following its purchase by Belgium-owned InBev.

I don’t agree with everything about which the Teamsters express concern in their news release this evening, but I wanted to offer up the text of their release below nevertheless:

Teamsters Raise Doubts About InBev Promises

InBev’s European, Brazilian and Canadian Unions To Meet with Teamsters

WASHINGTON, July 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — In the wake of the news that Anheuser-Busch’s board has accepted the offer from Belgian/Brazilian InBev, Teamsters across the country are questioning the reliability of InBev’s commitments not to close any U.S. breweries and not to cause “any significant job losses” among the production workers.

“We know that Carlos Brito, InBev’s chairman, has a reputation as a cost-slasher, and always at the expense of workers,” said Jack Cipriani, Director of the Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference. “Given the record amount of debt tied to this acquisition, his commitments that he will not close any Anheuser-Busch plants in the U.S. or cause significant production job losses raise major credibility issues for us.”

In fact, Cipriani has requested a meeting with Brito to have him reconcile these public commitments with the financial realities of the transaction.

In the coming weeks Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President, will host a meeting of Union representatives from InBev’s other breweries in Europe, Brazil and Canada to hear directly from them about InBev’s workplace conduct and to coordinate Teamster strategy to deal with InBev.

“Our core values include protecting good-paying American jobs and their communities, as well as preserving health care and pension benefits for all workers,” Cipriani said. “We know that our European, Brazilian and Canadian counterparts have similar values. We look forward to learning about InBev from them and to seek their assistance as allies in our fight to protect our members.”

The Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference represents more than 7,000 employees of Anheuser-Busch in the United States and Canada.