Is a strike brewing at Elysian?
Sep 30, 2024, 11:54 AM
Elysian Brewing Company plans to shut down operations at its Seattle Georgetown brewery. (Photos: Elysian Brewery)
(Photos: Elysian Brewery)
Employees at Elysian Brewing are inching closer to a strike after a weekend rally to highlight stalled contract negotiations with parent company Anheuser-Busch.
“They’re just not willing to give us what we’re worth,” Elysian Brewing Quality Lead Shannon Mullins told KIRO 7. “They’re acting like we’re just a bunch of hourly hired hands, that what we do isn’t important or technical or difficult work.”
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KIRO 7 reached out to officials at Elysian Brewing and Anheuser-Busch, who provided the following statement:
“We have met with the Teamsters 14 times over the past year, and they canceled the most recently scheduled bargaining session on September 11. We are awaiting their return to the bargaining table. We remain focused on recognizing and rewarding our local team’s dedication, talent, and hard work, and brewing the best beer in the region,” a spokesperson from Elysian Brewing said.
“We’ve had lots of proposals going back and forth,” Dascher said. “We still don’t have anywhere near an agreement that we can fully recommend or ratify.”
Workers want what they call fair wages and better retirement benefits. Talks have proven fruitless.
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Anheuser-Busch acquired Elysian Brewing in 2015. It has locations in Georgetown, Capitol Hill, and downtown Seattle. Teamsters Local 117 began representing the employees last summer and has been negotiating their next contract since then.
“We finally got to the table with the company in December,” Secretary-Treasurer of Teamsters Local 117 Paul Dascher said. That’s the union which represents the employees. “They’ve dragged their feet until now.”
For now, employees hope Saturday’s rally sends a message to the company.
“Everyone here can see us,” Mullins said. “Everyone is honking for us, showing support.”
Contributing: KIRO 7
Bill Kaczaraba is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here. Follow Bill on X, formerly known as Twitter, here and email him here.
