After receiving a proposal to replace their pension with a 401(k), roughly 240 Teamsters have been on strike since Sept. 19 at Bigfoot Beverages. Based in Eugene, the company distributes craft beer, wine, soft drinks, and other beverages in Central Oregon, the Southern Willamette Valley, and the Oregon Coast.
The strikers are workers at Bigfoot Beverages represented by two Teamsters locals: Local 206 for Eugene and Coos Bay and Local 324 for Roseburg and Newport.
More than 1,100 people have signed an online petition calling on the University of Oregon to stop using Bigfoot Beverages due to the strike.
“The solidarity on the strike line is overwhelming. Everybody is ready for the long fight,” Chris Muhs, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 324, said a week into the strike.
Contract negotiations started in April and were going well until Bigfoot blindsided workers with a proposal to replace the pension plan, Teamsters Local 206 secretary-treasurer Geoff Stewart said.
“We’ve always had a really good working relationship with this company, up until now,” Stewart said. “The members have spoken. They’re not going to come back to work until pension is on the table.”
In August, Teamsters members at Bigfoot voted to authorize a strike.
Stewart said the Teamsters initiated the unfair labor practice strike after Bigfoot presented misleading financial numbers. Bigfoot said its proposed 401(k) had the same value as the existing Teamsters pension plan but didn’t initially disclose that those numbers were based on employees also contributing 12% to the 401(k), Stewart said.
The Teamsters have filed three more unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board since the strike started. The union says Bigfoot exaggerated its property line to keep workers from picketing outside the Newport and Roseburg facilities and that company agents threatened striking workers with losing their jobs.
Bigfoot’s latest offer included wage increases and a $2,500 ratification bonus for each employee, but Muhs said the reduction in retirement benefits would cancel out the wage increases.
In a press release from Sept. 19, the day the strike started, Bigfoot Beverages said it was “disappointed” that Teamsters Locals 206 and 324 decided to move forward with a strike without having members vote on Bigfoot’s final proposal.
Bigfoot did not respond to a request for comment from the Northwest Labor Press.
