The plant’s closure will cost more than 500 employees their jobs, reports the Wall Street Journal, and is the result of declining sales in part caused by increased competition from craft beers.
According to the Milwaukee Business Journal, MillerCoors’ Eden, North Carolina produces Blue Moon seasonals, Coors Light, Miller Lite and Miller High Life, but operates “less efficiently than the newer Shenandoah, Va., brewery only 200 miles away.”
Back in February, the Teamsters announced the ratification, adding that the contracts would provide “stability” for members and their families.
“Our members overwhelmingly ratified these contracts at MillerCoors because they provide stability for their families while they are working and in retirement,” said David Laughton, Director of the Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference. “For the next three years, our members at MillerCoors know that their wages and pension benefits are secured and that now their families will be protected after they retire.”
