The United States largest brewer and makers of Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch, agreed to a $50 billion takeover by Belgium-based InBev. Belgweiser is born.
The combined company will be called Anheuser-Busch InBev.
InBev, the Wal-Mart of brewery’s, is known for its weak union support.
“We know that Carlos Brito, InBev’s chairman, has a reputation as a cost-slasher, and always at the expense of workers,” said Jack Cipriani, Director of the Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference. “Given the record amount of debt tied to this acquisition, his commitments that he will not close any Anheuser-Busch plants in the U.S. or cause significant production job losses raise major credibility issues for us.”
“Our core values include protecting good-paying American jobs and their communities, as well as preserving health care and pension benefits for all workers,” Cipriani said. “We know that our European, Brazilian and Canadian counterparts have similar values. We look forward to learning about InBev from them and to seek their assistance as allies in our fight to protect our members.”
The Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference represents more than 7,000 employees of Anheuser-Busch in the United States and Canada.
