International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers
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International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers | |
Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Council | |
Merger | AFL–CIO |
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Website | Teamster Brewery & Soft Drink site |
The International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink and Distillery Workers was a
Early history
The union was founded in 1886 as the National Union of United Brewery Workmen. The union's members were almost entirely Germans, and from 1886 to 1903 the union's convention and publications were in German.
The union affiliated with the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1887. The Brewery Workers were given a very wide jurisdictional charter by the AFL, making it one of the first industrial unions in the U.S.
In 1903, the union changed its name to the International Union of United Brewery Workmen of America. In 1917, the union changed its name to the International Union of United Brewery and Soft Drink Workers of America. Three years later it changed its name yet again, this time to the International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal and Soft Drink Workers of America.
Union jurisdiction
The Brewery Workers had a tumultuous relationship with the AFL. The union engaged in numerous jurisdictional disputes with unions representing firemen (boiler operators), teamsters and engineers from 1896 to 1907. In 1907, the AFL revoked the Brewery Workers' union charter. But a firestorm of protest from local unions around the country led the AFL to reinstate the charter in 1909, albeit with a number of limitations on the union's ability to organize workers outside of its newly narrowed jurisdiction.
Prohibition in the United States significantly weakened the union beginning in 1920.
The union recovered some after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, but jurisdictional disputes with the
The Brewery Workers affiliated with the
In 1953, Local 9 participated in the 1953 Milwaukee brewery strike, which involved over 7,000 workers at six breweries and lasted for 76 days.
The Brewery Workers joined the new
The Brewery Workers continued to lose members in the 1950s and 1960s. Its battles with the Teamsters continued, costing it members and resources. But many local breweries also began closing, as large national brewers such as Anheuser-Busch expanded rapidly and either pushed them out of business or acquired them.
From 1977 to 1978, Brewery Workers Local 366 went on strike at the Coors Brewing Company's facilities in Golden, Colorado as part of the larger Coors strike and boycott. The strike ended in failure for the union, with the local being dissolved in the process.
Teamster merger
In 1973, the Brewery Workers voted to merge with the Teamsters, and on October 19 were expelled from the
The remainder of the union became the Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference of the Teamsters union.
The union's publication was Brewery Worker, and was published from 1886 to 1973.
The Brewery Workers union was one of the unions on the master list of Nixon's political opponents. Notable union members included Karl Feller.
Leadership
Secretary-Treasurers
- 1886: Louis Herbrand
- 1888: Ludwig Arnheim (acting)
- 1888: Ernst Kurzenknabe
- 1892: Ernst Kurzenknabe and Charles F. Bechtold
- 1899: Charles F. Bechtold
- 1901: Julius Zorn
- 1904: Adam Hübner
- 1924: Joseph Obergfell
- 1941: Peter Bollenbacher
- 1941: William J. Kromelbein
- 1948: Joseph J. Hauser
- 1950: Thomas Rusch
- 1954: Arthur P. Gildea
Presidents
- 1949: Karl Feller
References
- General
- Committee on Education and Labor, United States House of Representatives. The Pittsburgh Beer War. Hearings before the special subcommittee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives, pursuant to H. Res. 111. 80th Congress, 1st session. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947.
- Foner, Philip S. History of the Labor Movement in the United States. Vol. 3: The Policies and Practices of the American Federation of Labor, 1900-1909. New York: International Publishers, 1964. Cloth ISBN 0-7178-0389-9
- Gompers, Samuel. A Circular (Cincinnati, Ohio, March 27, 1902) in Samuel Gompers Papers, Volume 5: An Expanding Movement at the Turn of the Century, 1898-1902. Stuart Bruce Kaufman, Grace Palladino and Peter J. Albert, eds. Champaign, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1996. ISBN 0-252-02008-1
- Mann, Keith J. and Husband Jr., Hugh P. "Private and Governmental Plans for the Adjustment of Interunion Disputes: Work Assignment Conflict to 1949." Stanford Law Review. 13:1 (December 1960).
- Schluter, Hemann. The Brewing Industry and the Brewery Workers' Movement in America. Cincinnati, Ohio: International Union of United Brewery Workmen of America, 1910.
- Tremblay, Victor J. and Tremblay, Carol Horton. The U.S. Brewing Industry: Data and Economic Analysis. Cambridge, Mass.: ISBN 0-262-20151-8
- Specific
- Milwaukee JournalOctober 22, 1973; Local News p. 1, col. 5
- Milwaukee SentinelOctober 22, 1973; p. 5, col. 5
- ^ "Teamsters Lose Bid at Breweries" Milwaukee Journal January 4, 1974; Accent section p. 3, col. 4
- ^ Christopulos, Mike. "Pabst stands firm, sees no room for negotiations." Milwaukee Sentinel June 5, 1984; p. 5, col. 1
External links
- Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference, International Brotherhood of Teamsters
- International Union of United Brewery, Flour, Cereal, Soft Drink, and Distillery Workers of America Records finding aid at University of Texas at Arlington Libraries Special Collections via Texas Archival Resources Online (TARO)