Union Busting Ended My Love Affair with a Beer

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/140731/union_busting_ended_my_love_affair_with_a_beer/

By Mike Elk, AlterNet. Posted June 17, 2009.

Women had come and gone, dogs had died, but Yuengling had always been there for me - until now.

Over many years, I have developed an intimate relationship with the sweet, lager taste of Yuengling Black & Tan. After moving to the cutthroat world of Washington, D.C. politics, I found that Yuengling always comforted me with memories of my working class roots and the world of flannel hunting jackets, wedding receptions at union halls, 4th of July barbecues, and tailgate parties that represented my native Western Pennsylvania. I took pride in introducing my friends to this beauty of a beer—cheap, delicious, and made by union workers back home in Pennsylvania. Women had come and gone, dogs had died, but Yuengling had always been there for me - until now.

This past weekend when I discovered that Yuengling had illegally busted their union, I was emotionally devastated. I had just bought a case of Yuengling earlier that same day and had it sitting at home in the refrigerator waiting for me. What would I do? I was broke and couldn't possibly afford to buy another case of beer, but at the same time I couldn't possibly enjoy drinking a Yuengling knowing what they had done to their workers. So instead, I found myself at home, watching a baseball game on a Saturday night, and enjoying a nice, cold glass of milk as I struggled to deal with how Yuengling had betrayed not only its workers, but me.

Quickly I found my outrage shifting from beyond Yuengling to the lack of U.S. labor law protecting workers from such abusive, unfair practices. It turns out that the company had petitioned for a decertification election to kick the union out of the brewery when the contract of the union expired. Dick Yuengling, the owner of Yuengling Brewery, gathered all the workers and told them that "the writing was on the wall". He said that if they didn't vote to kick the union out, he would close the plant, and ship the work to a non-union facility in the South. The workers, scared of losing their job in a region with high unemployment, voted to ditch their union and save their jobs.


While threatening to close a plant if a union wins such an election is highly illegal, the Yuengling Company has been able to get away with due to the weakness of U.S. labor law. According to a study recently released by Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University, employers threaten to close facilities in 57% of union elections if workers choose a union, despite the fact that this threat is carried out only 2% of the time. This is because under U.S. labor law the penalty for threatening to close plants or firing workers during a union election is that the boss merely has to post a piece of paper saying they broke the law.

As one longtime union organizer once put it to me "If the penalty for robbing a bank was you had to post a piece of paper saying you robbed a bank, we’d all be bank robbers!"

FULL story at link.

[MadMaddie]

1. Unbelievable how far we have regressed in the work place

and workers rights.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

2. What a heartbreak........

I grew up where Yuengling is brewed. The secret of the beer's success is the local water, which is deep and sweet.

That takes the teeth out of Mr. Yuengling's threat to move the jobs to the South. He'd never do that. Never.

But, after a lifetime of drinking Yuengling beer - we started in high school, which was typical up there - I can no longer enjoy my favorite brew.

I'm exclusive with Pilsner Urquell now, I guess.

Thanks for the info, Steve...................

[nosmokes]

3. And let's see a show of hands of those who think Obama's admin

is gonna be any different and there's gonna be any sort of prosecution here?

Yeah, me neither.Meanwhile let's see just how bad the hardworking members of the UAW get an anal stretching at Government Motors.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

6. PSSSST... This happened in 2007

Teamsters foaming over ejection at Yuengling

Tuesday, May 29, 2007
By Michael Rubinkam, The Associated Press

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07149/789158-28.stm#ixzz0IkbiJ8Tr&D

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," Mr. 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.

Under the WORST NLRB IN HISTORY, *'s NLRB.

January 25, Bush announced that he was re-nominating Robert Battista to Chair the NLRB. Battista has to be the worst NLRB chair ever - the worst member ever. Here are a few reasons why.

1. There is the fact that he has presided over a Board that has bulldozed over NLRB precedents that have stood for decades. Believe it or not, that is NOT the way judges and members of Boards and Commissions are supposed to behave. This past year has seen longstanding precedent after precedent shattered and for no valid reason.

Precedent can be changed when there is a valid reason to do so, such as fundamental changes in the workplace. But that change must come only when a record has been created to demonstrates the need for the change and the basis for the type of change. That has not been the case with the Battista gang.

snip

As Ted Kennedy said:

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, the White House announced the President’s intent to nominate Robert Battista and Gerald Morales to the National Labor Relations Board.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy said, “It’s unbelievable that President Bush would renominate Mr. Battista to the Board, after he led the most anti-worker, anti-labor, anti-union Board in its history. America’s hard-working men and women deserve a Board that will uphold their rights, not undermine them. With these nominations, the Administration has again demonstrated its hostility to fairness and justice in the workplace.”

As for your "Govt Motors" crack, you have no f'ing clue what you're talking about.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

7. As for your "Govt Motors" crack, you have no f'ing clue what you're talking about.

I just came back from a meeting for the UAW/Atlantic City Casino Workers in which we were discussing, among other things, a strike authorization vote for the workers at my place of employment (Bally's Atlantic City). One of the people there with whom I spoke was Scott Adams, recently promoted to Assistant Director of Region 9 of the UAW who was involved in the recent GM negotiations. His take was that while GM workers & retirees took a SERIOUS hit, ANY negotiation that would have occured without President Obama's "involvement" would have been the END of the UAW at GM, and probably the end of the UAW's presence in the American auto manufacturing industry ENTIRELY.

He also noted that the Chrysler netted the workers' VEBA Trust 55% of the "new" Chrysler, a very good deal, and that IF--and a VERY BIG IF to say the least-- GM & Chrysler can turn things around (and the VEBA sells their interest IF and when that occurs) the VEBA will find itself OVERFUNDED. Now I'm not saying (and neither did he) that this will definitely happen, but at the least Obama's intervention in the negotiations bought GM & Chrysler (and as a result, the UAW) a MINIMUM of 2 years to turn things around.

The alternative: a "conventional" bankruptcy and the DEATH of the UAW.

Adams, 55, began his automotive career at Ford in 1972, the same year he joined the UAW. He began serving the union in an elected capacity in 1984 as district committee member for Local 897 and later served two terms as Local 897’s president/chair and member of the bargaining committee.

Adams said a high point in his union career came in 1996 when he served as a member of the UAW national negotiating team that represented about 103,000 UAW members in contract bargaining with Ford.

Joining the staff of Region 9 in 1997, he served as an international rep and education director before becoming area director in 2006. July 3 will mark his 37th year with the UAW.

As the region’s second-highest executive behind Director Joe Ashton, Adams said his main mission will be helping to rebuild the UAW which lost thousands of members over the last four years. mostly due to downsizing of the auto industry.

In Western New York, the approximately 8,000 UAW members today is about half the union’s strength of four years ago.

“The challenges we face are, without doubt, the toughest I’ve ever seen. But I believe that we – the auto industry, the UAW and all the people involved – have the potential to turn this around,” Adams said.

The union is looking for new members outside the auto industry and has already made strides in the gaming industry – particularly in Atlantic City – where it added hundreds of new members in the last 12 to 18 months.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

8. That's it?....No Reply?

Not even a sarcastic (tho uninformed) SNARK as in your OP?

And let's see a show of hands of those who think Obama's admin

is gonna be any different and there's gonna be any sort of prosecution here?

Yeah, me neither. Meanwhile let's see just how bad the hardworking members of the UAW get an anal stretching at Government Motors.

Thanks for stopping by the Labor Forum, your "concern" has been duly noted.

[tech3149]

4. Nice catch Steve

As a PA resident, I'm familiar with Yuengling but never considered it a favorite. This article gives me a social reason to justify my choice. I'll stick with Straub even if I can only get it in a few counties.

[Earth Bound Misfit]

5. Union Made Beers & other Union products

American Made - Union Made Database

http://www.howtobuyamerican.com/content/db/b-db-american-union-made.shtml#Beer

Beer Miller Lite UAW
Beer Miller Genuine Draft UAW
Beer Miller Genuine Draft Light UAW
Beer Miller High Life UAW
Beer Miller High Life Light UAW
Beer Milwaukee's Best UAW
Beer Milwaukee's Best Light UAW
Beer Milwaukee's Best Ice UAW
Beer Leinenkugel's UAW
Beer Sharp's (non alcoholic) UAW
Beer Mickey's Malt UAW
Beer Mickey's Ice UAW
Beer Hamm's UAW
Beer Hamm's Draft UAW
Beer Hamm's Light UAW
Beer Icehouse UAW
Beer Miller Lite Ice UAW
Beer Red Dog UAW
Beer Olde English 800 UAW
Beer Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve UAW
Beer Henry Weinhard's Blue Boar Pale Ale UAW
Beer & Ale Anheuser-Busch IAM
Beer & Ale Mad River IAM
Beer & Ale Miller Beer IAM
Beer & Ale Seagram's Liquor IAM
Beer & Ale Steelhead Fine Ale IAM