MILWAUKEE -- Union workers at the Miller Brewing Co. rejected a contract offering them a 17 percent pay raise over two years and walked off the job early Friday.
Members of Brewery Workers Union Local 9 voted 985-197 to reject the offer, which union officials said would threaten 325 jobs. The union represents 1,400 Miller employees.
The contract offer included a provision that would allow Miller to close its distribution center and a plan to offer early retirement to 325 long-term employees.
'It's not because of money, it's the loss of unknown amounts of jobs,' George Hilbert, president of the local, said.
The Miller contract was set to expire at midnight Tuesday but was extended to midnight Thursday.
Miller is the second largest domestic brewery, behind Anheuser-Busch of St. Louis.
Members of Local 9 who work at the Pabst Brewing Co. voted Wednesday to accept a one-year agreement that would eliminate 110 jobs. The Pabst contract froze benefits and provided a 60-cent increase in the $12.87 hourly wage.
Alan Easton, Miller vice president of corporate affairs, denied rumors that Miller would welcome a prolonged strike as an excuse for closing the Milwaukee brewery and opening its new $410 million brewery in Trenton, Ohio.
The opening of that plant has been postponed until company beer sales improve, he said.
Miller management and other salaried personnel will continue brewery operations 'as close to normal as possible,' Easton said. There will be an 'ample supply' of Miller beers in its markets, he said.
Easton told a news conference the company's offer would have given a 14th paid holiday to employees and given the typical brewery worker at Miller a $31,300 annual salary.
Vision care for employees and their families and accident death insurance would be introduced and accident and sickness insurance and life insurance benefits would be increased, he said.
Easton said 69 jobs would be lost with the sale of Miller Brands of Wauwaotsa, a company-owned distributorship that handles beer to retailers in Milwaukee County.
The last brewery workers' strike of Miller was in 1969 and lasted for 37 days. Pabst and the Jos. Schlitz Brewing Co. were also affected by that strike.
