Strike at CUB turns ugly
AB-InBev may walk into an interesting situation in Australia when they take over SABMiller. Since June 2016, a labour dispute at CUB’s Abbotsford brewery in Melbourne has simmered, leading several well-known local pubs to turn off their Carlton Draught and VB taps.
A union-led boycott fighting for the reinstatement of 55 laid-off fitters and electricians at Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) made thousands of protesters march through Melbourne in early September to show their solidarity with the workers on strike.
The fitters and electricians said the wages being offered – between AUD 70,000 and AUD 120,000 per annum before overtime – were significantly less than the generous pay and conditions under which they had previously been employed.
For some time maintenance at the brewery has been contracted out. No doubt the contractor wants to cut their pay – to which the unions objected. But CUB is now collecting the collateral damage.
Since June unionised former workers have camped outside the brewery gates, with the police frequently being called in after workers complained of being harassed by picketers.
In a bid to “de-escalate” the ugly behaviour, the Fair Work Commission has made orders prohibiting unionists from calling labour hire workers derogatory names, media report.
CUB has a strong union history and is accustomed to major industrial disputes, but management is growing increasingly concerned about the prevalence of bullying and harassment.
SABMiller has been seeking to cut costs at the heavily unionised Abbotsford brewery to make it more competitive, saying the conditions negotiated over the decades had resulted in an “unsustainable situation”.
For their part, trade unions have been urging drinkers to ditch some of CUB’s best-selling beers ever since the company axed a maintenance contract that put dozens of long-serving workers out of jobs unless they agreed to take a large pay cut.
The boycott threatens to add to the commercial woes of CUB, as it grapples with the plunging popularity of its biggest-name beers.
Australian sources say that AB-InBev will take control of CUB on 10 October 2016 and, under the new structure, CUB sales director Peter Filipovic has been appointed President of the Australia business unit. Marketing Director Richard Oppy will become Vice President Marketing. On the supply side, Ken Hitchcock is to be Vice President and Anton van Heerden becomes Vice President of logistics and operational integration for the zone. Current AB-InBev Canada boss Jan Craps will be Zone President for Asia Pacific.
It is widely expected that the name ’CUB’ will be retained for AB-InBev’s Australia business unit.
