Anheuser-Busch workers could start 2024 on strike

After a rather tumultuous year in 2023, brewing company Anheuser-Busch may face more trouble in the new year from its own workers.

Members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters voted 99% on Saturday to authorize the Teamsters National Negotiating Committee to call a strike against Anheuser-Busch. The strike would be issued if the brewing company does not agree to a new contract for 5,000 of its Teamster members working at 12 breweries in the United States, which would include increased pay, job protection, and healthcare and retirement benefits.

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“Teamsters stand firm in our fight for the best contract at Anheuser-Busch, and this powerful strike vote proves it,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said. “Our members’ labor, talent, and sacrifice are what put Anheuser-Busch products on the shelf, and we are committed to getting a contract that rewards and recognizes their hard work. If Anheuser-Busch’s executives can’t get their act together to negotiate an agreement that respects workers, we will see them out on the streets.”

Anheuser-Busch reached an agreement with the Teamsters last month to end tiered healthcare benefits and also agreed to bring back retiree health benefits. However, the brewing company has not yet made negotiations on job security, even though the union has consistently asked for the company to make them.

The agreement between Anheuser-Busch and union members is set to expire on Feb. 29 next year.

The movement to authorize a union strike against the brewing company comes at the end of a rough financial year for Anheuser-Busch after the company faced massive pushback from consumers regarding Bud Light, one of the beer brands that it owns. The online pushback started in April after a partnership it did with transgender social media star Dylan Mulvaney, who received a customized Bud Light can celebrating Mulvaney’s one-year anniversary of transitioning.

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Since the pushback, Bud Light has attempted to win back its customers through various marketing strategies, including being a UFC sponsor. Most recently, the brand partnered with football legends Peyton Manning and Emmitt Smith to star in a new ad titled “Easy Rounds.”

Last month, Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Michel Doukeris cited a recent poll that said 40% of ex-Bud Light consumers were willing to buy the drink again, stating that the company will “continue to invest in Bud Light and all the platforms that consumers love.”