GLOBAL –Beverage industry might not be able to fully realize the projected growth of CAGR of 2.53%, as forecasted by Market Research due to waves of strikes that are being witnessed globally.
The latest strike is from workers at the Budweiser plant in Samlesbury, UK, who are out of daily duties after failing to agree on a pay offer with the brewery.
The GMB, a general trade union in the United Kingdom that has more than 460,000 members, said that the Budweiser strike action scheduled for July will go ahead after crisis talks collapsed.
The union explained that it had refused the offer of a 3% pay cut which would “take money out of workers’ pockets during a cost-of-living crisis.”
In May, Budweiser workers had revealed plans to conduct a series of summer strikes in June following its ongoing pay dispute with the company.
A spokesperson from Budweiser Brewing Group said: “Budweiser Brewing Group has a positive and long-standing relationship with the GMB, however despite open negotiations, the GMB has confirmed that there will be additional dates for industrial action at our Samlesbury brewery. “
While we have not yet reached an agreement, we continue to work toward a mutually acceptable solution.”
Meanwhile, Unite the Union members at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners (CCEP) Wakefield have threatened to strike after claims of bullying by bosses and disputes over pay.
The union claimed bosses were attempting to force through a below-inflation pay deal, a 21-month deal of 3.25% for the first 12 months and 1.75% for the following nine months.
It also claimed that CCEP, an offer would mean a ‘real-terms’ pay cut of 6.7%, based on the current RPI rate of 11.7%, according to the union, was threatening staff with further reductions to the pay offer and potential changes to ‘ways of working’ should workers elect to take industrial action.
Elsewhere, Workers at Muller Inc., an importer of beer to the US, are still on their strike that started on 3 July over pay and conditions of work citing that compensation has always been an issue.
Teamsters Local 830, a representative of the few thousand employees in the beverage industry, added that the beverage companies’ proposed hours of work for its members,12-hour shifts for five or six consecutive days is excessive and has become particularly problematic.
The union is striking against the Delaware Valley Importers Distribution Association, an industry group that includes Penn Beer Sales and Service, Origlio Beverage, and Muller Inc.
But it would not release specific information about the current pay workers receive, what they are seeking, or what the association had offered them in the proposal that the union has rejected.
In the same line, after more than 400 employees from Molson’s Longueuil plant and Montreal distribution center went on strike in late March until an agreement in principle was reached in early June, another set of Molson workers have hinted a possibility of a second strike.
The fresh strike will be led by about 100 delivery and warehouse workers across Quebec who said they have rejected their employer’s latest pay offer.
In both cases, workers are members of the Teamsters union, which is affiliated with the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ).
The union says that several points are in dispute this time, including wage indexation, schedules, the length of their collective agreement, job guarantees, and sick leave.
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