International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Over 400 members of the Teamsters Local 997 may be heading for a strike at the Molson Coors plant in Fort Worth if the two factions can’t reach and agreement soon.
According to a press release sent out by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) last week, the 420 workers that make up the Local 997 are fighting for a new contract that will allow union members at Molson Coors to reap the rewards of the company’s record-setting profits.
The release further accuses Molson Coors’ negotiators of wasting the union’s time on, “insulting proposals and regressive offers despite having months to reach a fair three-year agreement.”
In light of this could-be stalemate, the IBT announced that it is increasing future strike benefits to $1,000 per week for members of Teamsters Local 997 fighting for this new contract. This news comes just a few weeks before a reported possible nationwide strike by 5,000 Teamsters battling Anheuser-Busch for their own contract is to take place.
Beside asking for pay raises, Teamsters are asking for improved health care and retirement benefits that cover anyone who make, package, and warehouse Molson Coors brews, as well as maintains the Fort Worth brewery.
Fort Worth’s facility is the only brewery that services the entire Western region of the United States with Molson Coors products that include Topo Chico, Simply, Pabst, and Yuengling, among others.
“The Molson Coors brewery in Fort Worth will shut down if a strong new contract is not reached, and the executives of yet another greedy beer giant will have no one to blame but themselves,” Teamsters general president Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement. “Teamsters across the brewery industry are standing shoulder-to-shoulder. It doesn’t matter if it’s Molson Coors, Anheuser-Busch, or anyone else — these corporations cannot keep taking for themselves, shoveling money to Wall Street, and leaving the workers who make the products out in the cold. Teamsters know the value of our labor and we are not afraid to withhold it to get the contract we have earned.”
Adam Collins, a spokesperson for Molson Coors told FOX Business via email that "a strike authorization vote doesn’t necessarily equate to a likely strike." However, if this scenario was to move forward into a full-blown strike, Collins says Molson Coors is prepared for either outcome.
"We made a strong offer that exceeds local-market rates for similar unionized roles, and we remain committed to reaching an agreement that is fair to employees and the Fort Worth brewery," Molson Coors’ chief communications officer Adam Collins told Fox Business in an emailed. "But we have strong contingency plans in place and are well prepared for any scenario. We deliberately built up distributor inventories across the country in recent weeks, our five other U.S. breweries have extra capacity, and we are well equipped to ensure that consumers will be able to buy their favorite Molson Coors products."
Molson Coors’ fourth-quarter 2023 earnings were the company’s highest since 2005, according to a release. In October 2023, Molson Coors announced a $2 billion stock buyback for wealthy shareholders.
“Molson Coors is on a bender, drunk on sky-high profits and losing sight with every passing day of what’s really going on in the world. Workers are demanding their worth, and there is no way in hell the members of Teamsters Local 997 are going to accept a concessionary contract that would gut health care for our families and disrespect our work,” says Rick Miedema, secretary-treasurer of Local 997. “We are in this fight for as long as it takes, the entire Teamsters Union is behind us, and we will not back down until we secure a contract that values the membership.”
