Teamster Hoffa: DOJ follows AB InBev, SABMiller's interests
Staff Writer |
On September 14, 2015, MillerCoors announced plans to shut its modernized and profitable brewery in Eden, N.C.
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That means eliminating 12.5 percent of MillerCoors' production capacity and 4 percent of total U.S. production capacity.
In a meeting with Teamsters a month later, MillerCoors informed the union that management will close the facility, but not sell it as they "do not want it to get in the hands of a competitor."
"By allowing MillerCoors to mothball a world-class brewery rather than order it divested to a competitor who will keep it operational, the Antitrust Division missed an opportunity to protect the interests of workers, consumers and competition in the United States," said James P. Hoffa, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
"Unlike antitrust enforcers around the world who secured meaningful concessions from the merging parties to protect competition and the interests of workers and consumers, DOJ appears to have rolled over for big corporate interests."
"MillerCoors simply can't absorb Eden's total production at its other facilities," said David Laughton, Director of the Teamsters' Brewery Conference.
"Closing the Eden brewery will introduce significant inefficiencies at the remaining breweries which will force MillerCoors either to reduce the variety of product offerings, jack-up prices, or both."
"The Department of Justice may be done with its investigation, but I'm proud that N.C. Attorney General Cooper will proceed with the State's investigation into anticompetitive effects of the brewery closure," said Vernon Gammon, a former Eden brewery worker and Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 391 which represents the facility's workforce.
"In addition to destroying more than 500 good paying jobs in North Carolina and devastating our local economy, the brewery closure will no doubt hurt customers." ■