Steelworkers Ask Beer Drinkers to Share Holiday Spirit

Beer store leafleting, radio ads urge beer drinkers to buy bottles, not scab cans, to support struggling families in 16-month labour dispute

TORONTO, Dec. 10, 2014 /CNW/ - On Saturday, Dec. 13, beer drinkers across Ontario will be urged to buy their favourite brew in bottles – not cans – to support working families under attack this holiday season by the world's largest beer can maker.

Striking members of the United Steelworkers (USW) and their supporters will be leafleting Beer Store outlets across the province on Saturday. Consumers will be asked to support the strikers by buying bottled beer, rather than cans made by scabs recruited by anti-union manufacturing giant Crown Holdings.

"Consumers can help send a strong message to this company during the holiday season. By buying bottled beer rather than scab cans, they can help working families get a fair deal to end this dispute," said USW Ontario Director Marty Warren.

USW members at Crown's Toronto factory have been on strike since September 2013, when the highly profitable American corporation demanded massive concessions from its employees.

After provoking the dispute, Crown hired scabs to operate the Toronto factory. The strikebreakers are producing cans sold to multinational brewers including Anheuser-Busch InBev (Labatt) and Molson Coors who, together with Sapporo, control Ontario's Beer Stores.

Steelworkers and their supporters from Quebec to British Columbia also are encouraging the public to buy bottled beer instead of scab cans. Crown recently announced the closing of its only remaining plant in Quebec.

Holiday season radio ads, encouraging beer drinkers to buy bottles, not cans, are now running during morning programs on stations throughout Ontario. Striking workers also are displaying banners, bearing the Bottles, Not Cans message, on overpasses across busy highways in the GTA.

Bottles, Not Cans radio ad.

For more details, videos and photos, see www.bottlesnotcans.ca.

SOURCE: United Steelworkers (USW)

Marty Warren, USW District 6 Director, 416-243-8792; Tony DePaulo, Assistant to USW District 6 Director, 905-869-0760; Alexandra Eshelman, USW Strategic Campaigns, 416-570-9984, [email protected]; Bob Gallagher, USW Communications, 416-544-5966, 416-434-2221, [email protected]