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Vicious union-busting at leading Australian brewer

07.07.16 Urgent Action
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Carlton United Breweries, maker of Australia's most popular beers, has brutally attacked the employment conditions of 55 union machine maintenance workers at its Melbourne brewery ahead of the impending merger between Carlton United's parent company SABMiller and AB InBev. The workers, members of the IUF-affiliated AMWU and the Electrical Trades Union ETU, were told their jobs would be outsourced to a new contractor but they could return to work as employees of the subcontractor - with a 65% pay cut! CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE COMPANY!

The unions are demanding respect for existing agreements, with the support of the production workers at the plant represented by the IUF affiliate United Voice and have maintained a round-the-clock protest outside the brewery.

AMWU Assistant State Secretary Craig Kelly denounced the outsourcing arrangement as calculated union-busting, planned in advance as the company stockpiled supplies to pubs and big retailers by working the maintenance crews over 60 hours per week while refusing to hire new workers.

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As AB InBev, the world's largest brewer, moves to clear the remaining regulatory obstacles to its USD 108 billion acquisition of rival brewer SABMiller, workers are already feeling the notorious cost-cutting pressures which drive AB InBev owners 3G Capital. 3G built a Brazilian brewery company into a global giant through continuous cost-cutting and aggressive acquisitions. In the two years following 3Gs acquisition of food maker Heinz, the company eliminated some 25% of the global workforce. Heinz was then merged with Kraft Foods through another leveraged buyout to create job slasher Kraft Heinz. Now 3G threatens to extend its destructive model - the mere prospect of a 3G acquisition generates job cuts.

CLICK HERE TO SEND A MESSAGE TO THE COMPANY!