Labor Unrest at Giant Beer and Wine Distributor Could Leave Ohio Dry

DAYTON, Ohio, July 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than 300 delivery drivers and warehouse workers employed by Heidelberg Distributing throughout Ohio put up informational pickets at key distribution facilities around the state today to warn the company and the public of labor problems that could cut off Ohio's supply to beer and wine products during the busy summer season.

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"The last thing we want is a strike, but Heidelberg management just continues to back our members into a corner," said Varney Richmond, President of Teamsters Local 957. The Local represents more than 100 delivery drivers and warehouse workers at Heidelberg's Dayton-area distribution center, which distributes Anheuser Busch products including Budweiser.

Heidelberg Distributing is the 16th-largest beer wholesaler in the United States with sales of $206 million last year, according to Beverage World. The protest comes after a busy week of informational hand billing at the Dayton Air Show and the launch of several "Tell Budweiser: Destroying Ohio Jobs is Tasteless" billboards in Dayton.

"Heidelberg is trying to walk away from its obligation to provide health care to retirees and force employees to accept a substandard contract compared to Coke, Pepsi and Miller distributors in the area," Richmond said. "Our members have shown a willingness to take on cost-saving measures when management has pointed to legitimate issues. However, in this case the company cannot justify its changes."

The escalating conflict at the Dayton facility could extend to other collective bargaining agreements that cover more than 300 Heidelberg employees at four Ohio distribution centers, creating the possibility for a widespread labor dispute in Ohio.

"Despite enormous profits and sales, management is seeking drastic cuts from these workers," said Greg Nowak, Teamsters International Representative for the union's Beverage Conference. "If Heidelberg wants to wage war on workers, the company is going to have to answer to all of its employees and the communities that support its business."

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.Teamster.org for more information.

 SOURCE Teamsters Local 957

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Teamsters at an Anheuser-Busch InBev distributor in Ohio are threatening to walk off the job after contract negotiations broke down.

The union is accusing Heidelberg Distributing Co. , which handles a variety of beers made by Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD), including Budweiser beers, of breaking off negotiations and implementing a wide range of changes, including eliminating retiree health-care benefits for longtime employees.

“Coca-Cola, Miller and Pepsi are willing to pay their employees the industry standard for the beverage market and provide them with decent benefits,” Varney Richmond, president of Teamsters Local 957, said in a statement. “Budweiser’s distributor needs to stop being greedy and step up to the plate.”

The union, which represents more than 100 workers at Heidelberg, alleges the company wants to force its employees to work up to seven days a week, eliminate retiree health care for longtime employees and take away employees right to take unpaid leave for family medical emergencies.

Heidelberg officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Anheuser-Busch InBev of Belgium, the world's largest brewer, owns St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch.

By DANNY ADLER
Staff writer Calkins Media, Inc. | 0 comments

The Upper Makefield supervisors on Wednesday approved a three-year agreement with its public works union that gives workers an annual 2 percent wage increase while eliminating the township’s co-pay reimbursement account.

The agreement with the Teamsters Highway Truck Drivers and Helpers Local 107 was approved in a 3-1 vote by Supervisors Conrad Baldwin, Mary Ryan and Dan Rattigan. Supervisor Tom Cino voted against it, saying he wanted “cost sharing” toward benefits for new hires.

Supervisor Dave Kulig was absent from the meeting.

The vote followed a report by township Manager Stephanie Teoli saying it was less costly for the township to keep its in-house public works department than outsource the work.

The three-year deal covers this year, next year and 2013.

As the supervisors discussed the government’s budget last fall, frustrated residents blasted the board for an account that reimbursed employees for their co-pays.

The new contract with the union eliminates the co-pay reimbursement plan, saving the township $2,500 annually for the four public works crew members, a total savings of $7,500 over the term of the deal.

The two sides negotiated a new health plan for all new hires, shifting from a PPO to a mandatory HMO with higher co-pays.

It also includes a change in employees’ life insurance plans, which will cost the township approximately $200 more a year.

While the total cost of the contract term is $10,989, the net cost (after accounting for the reduced spending for reimbursements and the increase of $200 a year for life insurance) is $4,089, Teoli said.

Prior to that discussion, Teoli presented the board with a report on the potential of privatizing all of the township’s public works services, an idea that was brought up during budget discussions last year. According to Teoli’s report, though, outsourcing all public works would cost the township an additional $95,000 in labor costs, or an increase of 31 percent.

Total in-house labor costs for public works cost the township about $303,450. If the township were to outsource the work, it would cost nearly $399,000, Teoli said.

The township outsources some of its services, such as operations at the public water and sewer facility at the Heritage Hills neighborhood, mowing, tree removal and some snow removal, officials said.

“I believe that the combination of some outsourced and a small work crew is working very well for Upper Makefield Township,” Teoli said. “Having a small staff allows us to provide timely, professionalized service that I don’t believe we would be able to duplicate in the private sector.”

“Is it me or is this a no-brainer?” asked Rattigan when comparing the new agreement to the costs associated with outsourcing.

Just before casting the lone no vote on the three-year deal with the public works, Cino said “the offer on the table is reasonable.”However, he said, “My concern is around new hires and the benefit package."

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, March 8, 2011 --

With competing protests outside the building, Florida lawmakers began their annual session on Tuesday, looking at a huge budget deficit, a stagnant economy and a new governor intent on controversial changes.

For the third year in a row a beleaguered Legislature began a session needing to reduce spending, and will be piling cuts upon previous cuts. Leadership in both chambers has acknowledged that the year will be particularly difficult.

“There is hardship yet to be endured, hard decisions yet to be made. Too many homes still teeter on the edge of foreclosure. Too many people who want work still cannot find work,” Senate President Mike Haridopolos said in his opening speech, outlining the bleak situation outside the Capitol. “And we will cut billions more from the state budget at a time when unfunded mandates from the federal government and the needs of our citizens demand more from us, not less. So, if it is true that adversity builds character, then every one of you can count on being a much better person by the time we adjourn in 60 days.”

If there was any question as to whether real people were paying attention, as lawmakers began their opening floor sessions Tuesday, members of the tea party movement were rallying near the Capitol in support of new Gov. Rick Scott, smaller government and other conservative causes. At the same time, union members and teachers, and backers of environmental spending, were on hand to protest against his plans or those of his GOP colleagues in the Legislature.

Scott was set to give his first State of the State speech later Tuesday evening, expected to again spell out his vision for a leaner - and opponents would say meaner – government as part of his plans for creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. Scott has promised to make his central focus reducing the state’s stubborn unemployment rate, stuck around 12 percent for several months.

As tea partiers showed support, teachers were around to remind the governor and lawmakers that not everyone likes what they see. A measure expected to pass the Senate this week would tie teacher pay in part to student performance instead of length of time working, against the wishes of many teachers, and their union. Teachers also will feel the full effect of the budget wrangling this year. Education cuts are on the table in a way they haven’t been years, with Scott’s budget proposing to cut as much as 10 percent per student in state spending.

Union members also were rallying at the Capitol on Tuesday, feeling targeted by legislation that would change their pension and health care benefits, and possibly eliminate their jobs, in the case of public employees. Union leaders, meanwhile, were carefully watching Republican-backed legislation to end their ability to collect dues through paycheck deductions of public employees. GOP backers of that say that money goes heavily to political activities and it’s unfair for government to be involved in collecting union dues.

But as protesters shouted and held signs, and Scott prepared to emphasize in his State of the State speech his election winning slogan of “Let’s Get to Work,” House Speaker Dean Cannon pleaded with legislators to go beyond the simplicity and slogans.

Cannon said the protesters and others trying to influence the process were welcome – and a key part of the American system.

But, Cannon said, “to those groups I say this: this Session, in this House, we will not make decisions based on the politics of fear or anger.”

And to those boiling down the issues to quick soundbites for political rallies or TV newscasts, Cannon had a warning about what he called the “politics of labels.”

“Eight is enough, the anti-murder act, three strikes and you're out - at the end of the day we must have more than a slogan,” Cannon said. “In lawmaking, details matter, and it is fine for a slogan or a label to start the conversation, but we the lawmakers have to finish it, carefully. We have to care about the details and the real impact of what we do.”

Both Cannon and Haridopolos also shot angry words at Washington – blaming the federal government for much of what ails Florida. Cannon, particularly, said that Florida can’t balance its own budget largely because of federal promises that can’t be kept through a “paralyzing web of entitlement programs.”

“We have become increasingly dependent on federal money in the areas of health care, social services, transportation, the environment, and education,” Cannon said.

Cannon gave as examples the federal requirement for unemployment compensation and Medicaid, which he called “a Great Society federal entitlement program run amok (that) has become the single largest cost driver in our state's budget.”

Haridopolos also was taking on Washington on Tuesday, with his chamber set to take up a bill on the first day of the session that would ask voters to change the constitution to make it a right not to have health insurance, an effort to block the Obama administration’s law requiring coverage by 2014. A vote on that was expected as early as Wednesday in the Senate.

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Coca-Cola Enterprises, Inc. (CCE) has a history of rewarding poor-performing executives with excessive severance packages. When John Alm left CCE in December 2005 after serving only two years as CEO and presiding over lackluster sales and earnings growth and poor stock performance he received $2.1 million; $6.5 million credit to his CCE supplemental savings and investment account with an $859,000 pension enhancement; $4 million in stock; and, healthcare.

In awarding this package, the Board defied the severance guidelines adopted by the Compensation Committee earlier that year.  In consultation with Frederick W. Cook & Co., which in 2006 was profiled in the New York Times (Corporate America’s Pay Pal, October 15, 2006) as an architect of inflated compensation packages, CCE’s Compensation Committee recommended, and the Board approved, severance benefits for Alm that exceeded the maximum allowable under the guidelines - by more than 50 percent.

While certain severance agreements may be appropriate in some circumstances, the Teamsters believes that their potential cost warrants shareholder approval. Therefore, the Teamsters General Fund is proposing that CCE shareholders urge the Board of Directors to seek shareholder approval for future severance agreements with senior executives that provide benefits in an amount exceeding 2.99 times the sum of the executive’s base salary plus bonus.

Last year this same resolution garnered support from 38 percent of the vote by investors, up from 33 percent in 2008. In fact, 2009 was the fourth consecutive year that this same resolution won more than 30 percent support, which represents majority support when discounting shares held by The Coca-Cola Company and insider holders. Despite this majority support from outside shareholders year after year, CCE has not adopted the resolution.

The Teamsters believes that adopting a clear corporate governance policy that gives shareholders a say regarding certain severance agreements would insulate the Board from manipulation and avoid rewarding bad management and poor performance. A growing list of companies has adopted similar policies, including CCE’s largest shareholder, The Coca-Cola Company.