Cutbacks reach scary new level: Employees lose free beer
July 24, 2009 by Sam NarisiPosted in: Attracting talent, Economy, In This Week's E-Newsletter, Latest News & Views
In another sign of the times, a major brewery has been forced to cut back on one of its best-loved employment perks.
Canadian beer maker Molson recently announced it’s reducing the amount of free beer its employees can take home, and cutting retirees off completely, the Toronto Star reports.
Retirees are currently allotted six dozen free bottles a month. Starting Jan. 1, that amount will drop to one dozen. Five years later, it will be zero.
Current employees will see their free booze drop from 72 to 52 dozen bottles a year.
Sounds like just another sign of the difficult economy, but those affected haven’t taken the news quietly. Retirees organized a protest outside of the Molson brewery in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and the unions at other plants have filed grievances.
They claim they weren’t consulted when the change was made, in violation of their collective bargaining agreement.
There are 2,400 Molson retirees in Canada, and all that free beer reportedly costs the company $1 million annually.
July 28th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Boo-hoo-hoo! I had to laugh when I read this, and maybe that was the entire point. Can they seriously be protesting only getting 624 bottles of free beer a year, when people around them are losing important benefits like insurance and even jobs?
July 28th, 2009 at 10:23 am
@Hurting Too: The beer helps them forget….
July 28th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
One thing to remember — don’t ever try to take free beer away from a Canook.
July 31st, 2009 at 11:56 am
Ouch, they’re really in a pinch!
July 31st, 2009 at 1:23 pm
A commitment was made and was not kept.
Sure, there are plenty of things more important than beer.
What does that have to do with trying to get justice (and beer)?
July 31st, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I agree with Hurting Too…free beer vs. jobs, health insurance, etc. I, too, must laugh. Maybe some have become beer-aholics.
August 10th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
With all that free beer hopefully they also have AA and Weight Watchers benefits as part of their benefits package!