AB-InBev and the Teamsters to start talks

It could get interesting. In November, the “Belgizians”, as executives of Belgian-Brazilian brewer AB-InBev are nicknamed, will meet the Teamsters union to start contract talks. At issue is a new contract for workers at Anheuser-Busch's 12 U.S. breweries, including St. Louis, the U.S. headquarters for AB-InBev. The current contract expires 28 February 2014.

It will be the first Teamsters’ contract since InBev bought Anheuser-Busch in 2008. Soon after the merger, Anheuser-Busch and the Teamsters reached agreement on a five-year contract covering more than 5,000 employees. The 2008 deal included a renewal of the company's contractual commitment to keep all 12 breweries open for the span of the contract.

This time, negotiations might be ill-omened. The “Belgizians” are not exactly known for their friendly stance towards unions, if the Belgian experience is anything to go by. Despite major union protests in January 2010, AB-InBev pushed ahead with plans to make about 10 percent of its staff in Western Europe redundant after years of falling beer consumption in the region.

In the U.S., the situation is somewhat similar. Although AB-InBev controls about 47 percent of the U.S. beer market, its beer volumes have been falling big time since 2008. In the year Anheuser-Busch was taken over, the company shipped 107 million barrels beer. In 2012 that figure had decreased to 99 million barrels, according to estimates by beerinsights.com. That’s a loss of about 8 barrels beer (9.4 million hl) or a brewery’s full output.

The Belgizians will likely want more control and a reduction of costs. How the Teamsters will respond to that, we shall soon find out.