Stella Artois redundant pull a bossnapping

[Bitter Ashes]

Stella Artois, a popular Belgium brewers announced large redundancies across all its brewaries. The workers in Belgium responded by kidnapping 10 of thier bosses.

I cant find the original article I found this out about, so I've got no further detail sorry.

[Die Neue Zeit]

They've expanded recently into Canada, hence their ads (which I've seen).

[Comrade Tiny]

Can't post links but this is from the times website

The world's biggest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) — the maker of Stella Artois and Becks — has announced that it is planning to axe a tenth of its European workforce, prompting union members to take managers hostage in Belgium.
The company, which also make beers such as Budweiser, Boddingtons, Cobra and Michelob, expects to cut 800 of its 8,000 workforce in Europe, mainly in Belgium, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The company said that drinkers had begun to favour wine and spirits over beer, with beer sales falling 20 per cent in Belgium between 2000 and 2008.
In Belgium, where representatives met yesterday with workers’ unions to announce the job cuts, several staff at the Jupiler brewery held about 10 managers hostage for 11 hours. The workers demanded to speak to someone at head office, before finally letting the managers go early this morning.
A spokesperson declined to comment on the manner in which they had been held but said that everyone had gone home safely at 2am.
About 40 lorries were also blocked from operating at another Belgian plant where Stella Artois beer is brewed.
AB InBev employs about 1,300 people in the UK but it is not yet clear how many of these jobs are under threat or when the cuts will be made. The UK division’s headquarters are in Luton.
The developments may come as a surprise to investors in AB InBev, after promising third quarter results released in November.
Although volumes had fallen by 1.9 per cent in the nine months to December, InBev UK reported a 3.7 per cent increase in volumes of its own beers in the third quarter. Sales of its three flagship brands — Stella, Becks and Budweiser — all grew by at least 10 per cent, and heavy cost-cutting and firm pricing allowed it to achieve an 11.9 per cent jump in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
At the time, the group said that it expected similar growth in the fourth quarter.

[Axle]

Now there's some incentive for me to buy Stella Artois.

[The Vegan Marxist]

Now this is worker's power!

[The Vegan Marxist]

Here's a link to it if anyone wants it: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/consumer_goods/article6981657.ece

[The Red Next Door]

Can't post links but this is from the times website

The world's biggest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) — the maker of Stella Artois and Becks — has announced that it is planning to axe a tenth of its European workforce, prompting union members to take managers hostage in Belgium.
The company, which also make beers such as Budweiser, Boddingtons, Cobra and Michelob, expects to cut 800 of its 8,000 workforce in Europe, mainly in Belgium, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The company said that drinkers had begun to favour wine and spirits over beer, with beer sales falling 20 per cent in Belgium between 2000 and 2008.
In Belgium, where representatives met yesterday with workers’ unions to announce the job cuts, several staff at the Jupiler brewery held about 10 managers hostage for 11 hours. The workers demanded to speak to someone at head office, before finally letting the managers go early this morning.
A spokesperson declined to comment on the manner in which they had been held but said that everyone had gone home safely at 2am.
About 40 lorries were also blocked from operating at another Belgian plant where Stella Artois beer is brewed.
AB InBev employs about 1,300 people in the UK but it is not yet clear how many of these jobs are under threat or when the cuts will be made. The UK division’s headquarters are in Luton.
The developments may come as a surprise to investors in AB InBev, after promising third quarter results released in November.
Although volumes had fallen by 1.9 per cent in the nine months to December, InBev UK reported a 3.7 per cent increase in volumes of its own beers in the third quarter. Sales of its three flagship brands — Stella, Becks and Budweiser — all grew by at least 10 per cent, and heavy cost-cutting and firm pricing allowed it to achieve an 11.9 per cent jump in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
At the time, the group said that it expected similar growth in the fourth quarter.
I live in St.Louis where they are base

[The Red Next Door]

I wish people here would kidnap their bosses.

[Axle]

I wish people here would kidnap their bosses.

But that would entail not subordinating to them and jeopardizing your chances of climbing that corporate ladder :rolleyes:

Seriously, it does sicken me how little class conciousness we have in America. Even among whats left of our unionized workforce. Belgian brewery workers kidnap their bosses...American workers at Coors had their union decertified and the company has crushed nearly twenty (I think, correct me if I've got my facts wrong) attempts since to re-unionize.

[Patchd]

Awesome, although ... Stella is absolute piss, those workers should voluntarily take those redundancies and find a better beer to brew :tt2: ... nah only joking.

[Tiktaalik]

Class war for the win!

[Edelweiss]

Busch Battles Belgian Beer Blockade

(Jan. 17) – Stock up on Stella Artois and Leffe beers while you still can. Disputes between union brewery workers and Anheuser-Busch InBev in Belgium have halted production of some of the beverage giant's most popular Belgian brands, the BBC reports.

The trouble began last week, when Anheuser-Busch InBev revealed plans to cut 800 jobs across Western Europe, including 250 of the 2,700 jobs in Belgium. After hearing the news, union representatives at the Jupiler brewery in Belgium held management hostage for 11 hours and blockaded a plant in Leuven, where Anheuser-Busch InBev is headquartered.

Some supermarkets are already running low, and a resupply will be impossible until the blockade is broken. But beer is an important part of Belgian national culture and the most popular alcoholic beverage in the country, so thirsty Belgians still have a wealth of other beer options to choose from.

Alcohol is one of a few "countercyclical assets" – products that thrive in an economic downturn. But while people may not have been drinking any less, the alcohol industry proved vulnerable to the current recession as people saved money by drinking at home rather than in bars. Total sales for Anheuser-Busch InBev have been slumping for much of 2009.

When InBev purchased Anheuser-Busch in 2008, the new company became the world's largest beer manufacturer. Since the acquisition, InBev has been cutting costs to reduce debts and says job cuts are necessitated by sales losses.

While management has won the legal right to break the blockade, it's avoiding that for now. Talks to end the dispute have made little progress.

http://www.sphere.com/world/article/anheuser-busch-inbev-battles-belgian-beer-blockade/19318885

[Delenda Carthago]

I live in St.Louis where they are base

So,are you and your comrades in solidarity with the worker's struggle?Do you help them financially,do you share leaflets to your local society about it,do you go and talk with them,do you organise maybe a gig or a movie projection to gather money for the strikers?Or are you staying in RevLeft talkin about it?


Thats the real question comrade...

[punisa]

I wish a red hair 25 year old lusty Marxist girl would kidnap me :cool:
Btw, Stella is a pretty good beer, very popular here in Europe. I believe it would be even better if workers took control of the breweries. If that happened I'd be buying it daily instead of bread (f***, I already do).

[rednordman]

I wish a red hair 25 year old lusty Marxist girl would kidnap me :cool:
Btw, Stella is a pretty good beer, very popular here in Europe. I believe it would be even better if workers took control of the breweries. If that happened I'd be buying it daily instead of bread (f***, I already do).Well, im A 25 year old man with red hair...and I am definitly not going to catch you:lol:. Anyhow, stella in UK is a health risk. Try at your own peril. What ever the rest of beers in Croatia is like, they cannot be as bad as Stella. Oaken Artois is very good however. All the best for the struggling workers. I wish them all the fortune and success in the word.

[the last donut of the night]

I wish a red hair 25 year old lusty Marxist girl would kidnap me :cool:


Now I finally understand why some female members complain about the sexism in the left.

Look at you: you've taken a very important happening in Belgium and used it to slip in some comment about how horny you are. Women don't just go around fucking men for their whims, you know.

Not cool, dude.

[punisa]

Well, im A 25 year old man with red hair...and I am definitly not going to catch you:lol:. Anyhow, stella in UK is a health risk. Try at your own peril. What ever the rest of beers in Croatia is like, they cannot be as bad as Stella. Oaken Artois is very good however. All the best for the struggling workers. I wish them all the fortune and success in the word.

Lol, we're still not THAT comradely comrade :lol::lol:
Anyhow, Stella is pretty fair here in Croatia, guess it depends on the brewery. But I notice that all beers have been going down in terms of quality over the years.

[The Red Next Door]

But that would entail not subordinating to them and jeopardizing your chances of climbing that corporate ladder :rolleyes:

Seriously, it does sicken me how little class conciousness we have in America. Even among whats left of our unionized workforce. Belgian brewery workers kidnap their bosses...American workers at Coors had their union decertified and the company has crushed nearly twenty (I think, correct me if I've got my facts wrong) attempts since to re-unionize.
We Americans are culturally apolitical.If we stay in xbox360 land, nobody will be hurt.

[punisa]

Now I finally understand why some female members complain about the sexism in the left.

Look at you: you've taken a very important happening in Belgium and used it to slip in some comment about how horny you are. Women don't just go around fucking men for their whims, you know.

Not cool, dude.

RedManatee I'm not a sexist at all, hence I wrote "I wish she kidnaps me". See? I actually conform to a subordinate role :)
I apologize if any member actually thought that my comment was a derogative insult, it was not meant to be in any way.
As for lust you mention, it was targeted towards beer, not the opposite sex.
I'm a beer-o-holic and I need help, I know :crying:

Please excuse my rant and let us continue on a more serious note. Any recent development with the situation in Belgium?

[An archist]

Well, the people in Jupille did a boss-napping. At all the sites where people would be fired, unions blocked the gates, preventing beer to get out.
That was a pretty good tactic, since they let workers in and out, so it wasn't a strike and people still got paid, but the pressure was put on the managament pretty hard. They got loads of support from locals, people would bring wood to keep a fire going, couches to sit on and people from other breweries brought beer, because, well, blockading for that long gets boring.
A lot of people were pretty pissed, since AB-inbev isn't doing bad at all, they keep making huge profits and even gave over 1 billion euros in bonusses (on top of their usual paychecks!) to top managers.

Over the days, the tensions rose between management and workers, managament went to court, asking to forcefully remove the blockades, in Jupille the judge decided against this, but in Leuven, the judge said the blockade could be lifted by the cops if the management wanted to. It didn't get to that however.

Eventually, after almost two weeks of blocking the gates, the management decided they wouldn't fire any of the 300 people!

Friday (yesterday) unions and supporters showed Moore's 'Capitalism: a love story' at the station near the brewery. It was supposed to be at the picket, but since there was no picket needed anymore, they showed it at the station.

Anyway, a great victory.

[cyu]

It was supposed to be at the picket, but since there was no picket needed anymore, they showed it at the station.

Anyway, a great victory.

Great to hear - is there any more we can read about this on the internet?

[punisa]

Eventually, after almost two weeks of blocking the gates, the management decided they wouldn't fire any of the 300 people!

Friday (yesterday) unions and supporters showed Moore's 'Capitalism: a love story' at the station near the brewery. It was supposed to be at the picket, but since there was no picket needed anymore, they showed it at the station.

Anyway, a great victory.

That's great news. Naturally the media coverage is small or non existent here. I only found out about it by reading here.
Workers need to hear this all around Europe and the world. These examples are what people need to encourage themselves to start similar actions.

And playing Moore's Capitalism is really a cool move :D
Moore should distribute free copies to all worker unions.

[An archist]

Great to hear - is there any more we can read about this on the internet?
There's a facebook group called "Steun de werknemers van AB-INBEV !" where a lot of reports, pictures and stuff are and of course there's www.indymedia.be ,but I'm not sure about any English reports.
Oh and saturday the 30th, there's a free victory concert with The Kids (legendary Belgian punkband):cool:

[The Ungovernable Farce]

Awesome news!

[Fietsketting]

Well, the people in Jupille did a boss-napping. At all the sites where people would be fired, unions blocked the gates, preventing beer to get out.
That was a pretty good tactic, since they let workers in and out, so it wasn't a strike and people still got paid, but the pressure was put on the managament pretty hard. They got loads of support from locals, people would bring wood to keep a fire going, couches to sit on and people from other breweries brought beer, because, well, blockading for that long gets boring.
A lot of people were pretty pissed, since AB-inbev isn't doing bad at all, they keep making huge profits and even gave over 1 billion euros in bonusses (on top of their usual paychecks!) to top managers.

Over the days, the tensions rose between management and workers, managament went to court, asking to forcefully remove the blockades, in Jupille the judge decided against this, but in Leuven, the judge said the blockade could be lifted by the cops if the management wanted to. It didn't get to that however.

Eventually, after almost two weeks of blocking the gates, the management decided they wouldn't fire any of the 300 people!

Friday (yesterday) unions and supporters showed Moore's 'Capitalism: a love story' at the station near the brewery. It was supposed to be at the picket, but since there was no picket needed anymore, they showed it at the station.

Anyway, a great victory.

Any actions from the left that you can tell us about? :blushing:

[An archist]

Well, there was the showing of Micheal Moore's film. And other then that, there were quite some actions being prepared, solidarity posters were hung up in bars and banners were being made, but the strike was over too soon;).

But a lot of people showed individual support, by bringing beer, wood to keep a fire going and just by being at the picket.

[Hoggy_RS]

Good to see this resolved.

Stella is rank though!(tastes like beer full of ash):lol: