Teamsters still foaming over ejection by Pa. brewer Yuengling


By The Associated Press
Friday, May 25, 2007

POTTSVILLE - Dick Yuengling Jr., fifth-generation owner of the brewery
that bears his name, called his employees together a few weeks before
their labor contract was set to expire to talk about the future of the
business.

"Read between the lines," he told them at one point, according to
government documents on the management-union feud that followed.

Depending upon whom you ask, Yuengling's speech was either a pep talk
to urge employees to work harder or an ultimatum to dump the Teamsters
union, which is what they did.

The union has been trying to strike back, urging a boycott of the 178-
year-old brewery's product. The company says the effort has fallen
flat - with "absolutely zero feedback" from the marketplace, according
to chief operating officer David Casinelli.

Now, the Teamsters say they are going to try to get state lawmakers to
intervene in what they say has been an unfair fight.

However faintly, the spat echoes the epic labor battles that took
place in this hardscrabble region 75 miles northwest of Philadelphia
more than a century ago, when coal miners in Yuengling's hometown
unionized and went on strike, demanding better pay and working
conditions.

Union leaders say Dick Yuengling told the workers that he would sell
the business or shut it down unless they shed their decades-long
affiliation with the Teamsters. How else to explain the sudden
decision to decertify? they say.

The brewery says employees started a decertification drive on their
own with no encouragement or interference from the owner.

"The company simply honored the employees' wishes," Casinelli said.

And the National Labor Relations Board sided with the company. It
could find no evidence that management pressured employees to leave
Philadelphia-based Local 830 of the Teamsters.
No surprise there, the Teamsters said. Employees were too scared of
losing their $20-an-hour jobs to come forward to testify about what
was said at the meeting, union leaders said.

"Pottsville's a very small town, and the Yuengling brewery's the only
game in town. So there was great pressure from the people of
Pottsville to not say anything," said Daniel Grace, head of Local 830.
Yuengling, founded in 1829 by Dick Yuengling Jr.'s great-great-
grandfather, was a small regional brewery for most of its history. But
it grew explosively in the 1990s - driven by the popularity of a lager
it introduced in 1987 - and now distributes in 10 states.

With production of 1.58 million barrels in 2006, Yuengling ranks as
the nation's top regional brewer, according to Eric Shepard at Beer
Marketer's Insights. Order a lager in the mid-Atlantic region, and
chances are the bartender will serve Yuengling.

Grace said the union had a good relationship with Yuengling until a
few years ago, when the labor board awarded back pay to several
employees he said were laid off out of seniority. That, he said,
prompted Yuengling to convene his workers in early 2006 and give them
an ultimatum to get rid of the union.
The union represented nearly 80 employees in the brewhouse, the
bottling shop and the warehouse.
Grace's account is supported by two people who said they were at the
meeting and who spoke with The Associated Press at the request of the
union.

They said that Dick Yuengling Jr. blasted the "guys from Philadelphia"
- the Teamsters. They said he also told employees they should "read
between the lines" and threatened to close the brewery. The two said
they did not want to be identified because they feared retribution.

"If he doesn't want union people, then I would say union people
shouldn't drink his beer," said Patrick Eiding, president of the
150,000-member Philadelphia council of the AFL-CIO.

When the union took its allegations to the Philadelphia office of the
NLRB, Grace said no one would testify against Yuengling.

Instead, workers told labor board investigators that Yuengling had
given them a "pep talk" about the company's future "and the need for
employees to work harder," according to Dorothy Moore-Duncan, an NLRB
regional director.

Little appears to have changed at Yuengling since the union got the
boot.

The brewery continues to pay 100 percent of the cost of workers'
health insurance, said Casinelli, the Yuengling executive. It also
boosted wages by 3 percent last year.

The Teamsters "are hurting their own membership with this nonsense,"
he said. "Our brands are a significant source of income for
wholesalers all over the state, many of whom are union houses, and
I've not had one house throw our brand out."

Nor has there been much reaction in Pottsville. Yuengling has long
helped anchor this gritty town, offering relatively high-paying jobs
in an area where such jobs are scarce. Yuengling employs almost 200
people, most of them at the Pottsville brewery and at a second
facility nearby.

At the Brass Tap Tavern a few blocks from the brewery, patrons had
mixed feelings about the union's boycott call.

Don Long, 31, a municipal worker who plans to join a union next month,
said he sympathized with Yuengling's workers, many of whom he knows.

Yuengling's owner "doesn't care for his workers, he just cares about
how much money he can make," said Long, who said he would observe the
boycott.

But Barry Sponsler, 49, a software developer, said he would continue
drinking Yuengling.

"This is a pretty tough part of Pennsylvania. There's not a lot of
jobs around here and they provide a lot of employment," he said. "If
the union gets decertified, it's because they're not adding value."


Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

tomkanpa wrote:
Teamsters still foaming over ejection by Pa. brewer Yuengling

By The Associated Press
Friday, May 25, 2007

Little appears to have changed at Yuengling since the union got the
boot.

The brewery continues to pay 100 percent of the cost of workers'
health insurance, said Casinelli, the Yuengling executive. It also
boosted wages by 3 percent last year.

The Teamsters "are hurting their own membership with this nonsense,"
he said. "Our brands are a significant source of income for
wholesalers all over the state, many of whom are union houses, and
I've not had one house throw our brand out."

Nor has there been much reaction in Pottsville. Yuengling has long
helped anchor this gritty town, offering relatively high-paying jobs
in an area where such jobs are scarce. Yuengling employs almost 200
people, most of them at the Pottsville brewery and at a second
facility nearby.

"This is a pretty tough part of Pennsylvania. There's not a lot of
jobs around here and they provide a lot of employment," he said. "If
the union gets decertified, it's because they're not adding value."

Win one for the good guys.
--
Joel Plutchak "They're not people, they're HIPPIES!"
$LASTNAME at VERYWARMmail.com - Eric Cartman