Some 320 employees at Molson Coors brewery in Toronto have gone on strike after the old contract expired on New Year’s Eve and the deadline for an agreement passed by Thursday noon. The brewery looks for a 7 per cent reduction in wages, pensions and benefits. The Canadian Union of Brewery and General Workers has offered reductions in overtime pay, the 10 per cent co-pay for benefits and the hiring of more temporary workers. The union believes that the demand for lower costs is coming from Molson Coors’ corporate office in Colorado.
It’s the first strike at the company for 20 years. The union also stresses the fact that there is no danger of a beer shortage because of filled-up warehouses in anticipation of the labor dispute.
