Support SABMiller Panama workers on strike for bargaining rights

Workers at Cervecería Nacional, Panama's beer and soft-drink subsidiary of global brewing giant SABMiller, have been on indefinite strike since July 10 in a conflict over basic trade union rights. CLICK HERE TO SEND A SUPPORT MESSAGE TO SABMILLER! The two unions which together represent over 80% of the workforce, SITRAFCOREBGASCELIS and STICP, submitted joint proposals for a new collective bargaining agreement at the Ministry of Labour on June 1. Negotiations immediately deadlocked over the company's insistence on negotiating with only one of the unions, who insist on their right to be jointly represented in the negotiations.

In the run-up to the July 10 strike deadline, management pressured workers to renounce their collective bargaining rights and demands and barred active union leaders from access to workplaces. Now, the company is escalating the pressure by withholding from workers their wages for days worked in July prior to the strike.

The strikers are holding firm and have received support and solidarity messages from unions in Panama, Latin America and the IUF.

You can support their fight - CLICK HERE to send a message to management of Cervecería Nacional - SABMiller telling the company to immediately begin bargaining with the two unions representing the workers.

In addition to local beers, Cervecería Nacional also bottles Pepsi-Cola in Panama.