Coors facing new boycott (Sep. 24, 2002)
Created by: Administrator,Last modification on 24 Sep 2002 [05:00 UTC]
This article appeared in the Albuquerque Tribune on September 24, 2002.
By HEATHER DRAPER
Scripps Howard News Service
September 24, 2002
After years of being "boycott free," the Coors family is facing the prospect of the AFL-CIO asking its 13 million members to stop buying Coors products.
The controversy has nothing to do with beer. About 400 union employees at Graphic Packaging Corp. in Kalamazoo, Mich., a Coors supplier, have been locked out of their jobs since their contract expired July 27.
The Michigan employees don't agree with Graphic Packaging's proposed mandatory overtime hours and reduced pension benefits for younger workers.
"We do not believe the Coors family and Graphic Packaging have been negotiating in good faith," said Joe Drexler, director of special projects for the Paper Allied-Industrial Chemical and Energy workers union, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. "We're very close to a boycott."
The Coors family has a controlling stake in Graphic Packaging stock, but Graphic Packaging was legally divested from Adolph Coors Co. in 1992.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney hinted of a return to a boycott of the Golden, Colo.-based brewer in a letter last week to Graphic Packaging Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Coors.
"You undoubtedly remember the difficulties between the AFL-CIO and Adolph Coors Co. in the 1970s and 1980s," Sweeney said in the letter. "It is not our desire to return to those days. However, we will do what is necessary to defend those workers against your aggressive actions."
The AFL-CIO signed an agreement with Coors in 1987 that ended a labor boycott of the company.
PACE is working to obtain an AFL-CIO sanction for a new boycott.
Coors officials are puzzled by talk of a boycott because they say Coors Brewing Co. has nothing to do with Graphic Packaging any more.
"Graphic Packaging is a totally separate entity from Coors," said Coors spokeswoman Aimee Valdez. "I don't understand how they can wage a boycott against an independent company. We legally can't take steps to intervene (in the dispute) because we're a separate company."
Drexler said the union can target a secondary company as long as union members don't set up pickets at Coors facilities.
Gardner Edgarton, Graphic Packaging director of investor relations, said the company removed union workers on July 27 before they could strike because they could have walked off their jobs at any time after the contract expired.
"It's a big paper machine and carton plant," he said. "It's not something you can just flip a switch and turn it off. In order to keep things running smoothly ... we took control of the situation."
Drexler said an AFL-CIO-led boycott would hurt sales in one of the markets Coors targets heavily: industrial and other so-called blue-collar workers.
"One thing the Coors family does is provide labor organizations and gay and lesbian organizations with a lot of ammunition (for a boycott)," Drexler said.
Labor groups and gay organizations boycotted Coors products 20 years ago over union-busting allegations and claims of discrimination.
© 2002 The Albuquerque Tribune.
By HEATHER DRAPER
Scripps Howard News Service
September 24, 2002
After years of being "boycott free," the Coors family is facing the prospect of the AFL-CIO asking its 13 million members to stop buying Coors products.
The controversy has nothing to do with beer. About 400 union employees at Graphic Packaging Corp. in Kalamazoo, Mich., a Coors supplier, have been locked out of their jobs since their contract expired July 27.
The Michigan employees don't agree with Graphic Packaging's proposed mandatory overtime hours and reduced pension benefits for younger workers.
"We do not believe the Coors family and Graphic Packaging have been negotiating in good faith," said Joe Drexler, director of special projects for the Paper Allied-Industrial Chemical and Energy workers union, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. "We're very close to a boycott."
The Coors family has a controlling stake in Graphic Packaging stock, but Graphic Packaging was legally divested from Adolph Coors Co. in 1992.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney hinted of a return to a boycott of the Golden, Colo.-based brewer in a letter last week to Graphic Packaging Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Coors.
"You undoubtedly remember the difficulties between the AFL-CIO and Adolph Coors Co. in the 1970s and 1980s," Sweeney said in the letter. "It is not our desire to return to those days. However, we will do what is necessary to defend those workers against your aggressive actions."
The AFL-CIO signed an agreement with Coors in 1987 that ended a labor boycott of the company.
PACE is working to obtain an AFL-CIO sanction for a new boycott.
Coors officials are puzzled by talk of a boycott because they say Coors Brewing Co. has nothing to do with Graphic Packaging any more.
"Graphic Packaging is a totally separate entity from Coors," said Coors spokeswoman Aimee Valdez. "I don't understand how they can wage a boycott against an independent company. We legally can't take steps to intervene (in the dispute) because we're a separate company."
Drexler said the union can target a secondary company as long as union members don't set up pickets at Coors facilities.
Gardner Edgarton, Graphic Packaging director of investor relations, said the company removed union workers on July 27 before they could strike because they could have walked off their jobs at any time after the contract expired.
"It's a big paper machine and carton plant," he said. "It's not something you can just flip a switch and turn it off. In order to keep things running smoothly ... we took control of the situation."
Drexler said an AFL-CIO-led boycott would hurt sales in one of the markets Coors targets heavily: industrial and other so-called blue-collar workers.
"One thing the Coors family does is provide labor organizations and gay and lesbian organizations with a lot of ammunition (for a boycott)," Drexler said.
Labor groups and gay organizations boycotted Coors products 20 years ago over union-busting allegations and claims of discrimination.
© 2002 The Albuquerque Tribune.
