BY RAY PARSONS AND ALYSON KENNEDY
ST. LOUIS - Eight thousand members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) are taking a second contract vote at 12 Anheuser-Busch breweries across the United States. Their last contract with the company expired March 1.

During voting in April, IBT members rejected a nearly identical offer by 78 percent. The pact demands sweeping changes: allowing the company to impose mandatory overtime, gut the use of seniority in job bidding, use more part-time and temporary workers, eliminate jobs considered "non-core" in the production of beer, and cut vacation benefits and increase the probation period for new hires. "Busch wants to go back to the 1930s. He wants to control our families for profit," said Ray Budding, a Teamster with 24 years at the flagship plant in St. Louis. "I'm not going to let him!"

August A. Busch III is chairman of the board and president of Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. The company, maker of Budweiser beer, reaped profits of $1.3 billion in 1997 on sales capturing 45 percent of the U.S. beer market.

Teamster officials brought an outside mediator into the contract talks after the April rejection of the Anheuser- Busch proposal the company has called its "final" offer. These talks lasted two days. The IBT officials agreed to put the pact to a second vote even though no substantial improvements had been made. The 50-member IBT negotiating team decided to urge rejection of the pact. Rank-and-file voting is by mail, and complete results are expected between the end of July and mid-August.

Nearly 2,000 workers are represented by four IBT locals in the brewing, bottling, and shipping operations in St. Louis. Maintenance workers are represented by three additional unions. Their contracts have also expired, but negotiations are waiting on the outcome of the Teamster talks.

Workers here view the demand for forced overtime, the gutting of seniority rights in job selection, and the contracting out of union work as among the most important issues in dispute. Anheuser-Busch already imposes forced overtime at other breweries.

Bill Metzler, a bottler with two years in the plant, explained the fight to preserve seniority rights. "They say they want `the right person for the right job' but they really want to choose based on favoritism and be able to take punitive action against workers they don't like."

The company proposal identifies for the first time several job classifications as "non-core," or not central to the production of beer, including carton making, dumping waste beer, and washing trucks. These jobs would be contracted out without union protection, and workers believe the company will move to expand the definition of "non-core" work.

Deep differences already exist in the pay gotten by workers at the brewery. Teamster member John Schaefer said, "I worked on a crew one weekend where I was getting regular pay at time and a half, a weekend worker got full pay but no overtime and no benefits, and a seasonal worker was getting about 60 percent of regular pay, and no benefits."

The company is seeking to expand the use of "seasonal" workers, who are limited to 1,000 hours of work in the summer months.

New hires in line for permanent jobs are currently brought on as "apprentices" - in reality a two-tier wage system where they start at 70 percent of regular pay. After two years they reach full pay. These workers face a six-week probationary period now which would increase to six months under the Anheuser-Busch proposal. The bosses have also demanded a cut in the number of breaks workers get during their shift from four to two.

The company seeks a five-year agreement, up from four years in the last pact, and three-year terms before that. Anheuser-Busch has threatened to close breweries in Merrimack, New Hampshire, and Fairfield, California, if their "final" offer is not accepted. Teamster Charlie Conway said, "This is probably just a threat, but if we accept the forced overtime, they'll do it for sure."

Many workers here are angry at the dragged out contract talks. An apprentice who works in the warehouse and asked that his name not be used said, "We said we wanted to strike with that vote of 78 percent," against the contract in April. "I get tired of people asking if we're going on strike." Teamster locals at Anheuser-Busch breweries in Baldwinsville, New York, and Williamsburg, Virginia, appealed to IBT officials to not vote a second time on the pact. This was overruled.

After the night shift July 2, some 40 Anheuser-Busch workers gathered at the Filling Station tavern a few blocks from the plant to conduct their own, impromptu boycott of the company's beer, joined by Postal workers, Boilermakers, and Teamsters from other nearby workplaces.

Tuesday is T-shirt day in the plant: workers sport union shirts that read "We're fighting for a better future."

The last strike by Teamsters at Anheuser-Busch lasted 92 days in 1976.

Ray Parsons is a member of the United Steelworkers of America Local 310 in Des Moines; Alyson Kennedy is a member of the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union in Chicago.  
 
 
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