More than a year after they voted to join Teamsters Local 117, workers at Elysian Brewing in Seattle still don’t have a union contract.
Elysian was a locally owned craft brewer until 2015, when it was bought by Anheuser-Busch. Teamsters represent most production workers at the big Anheuser-Busch facilities, but the union has had a hard time negotiating a first agreement at Elysian. The company hired notorious union-busting law firm Jackson Lewis and took three months to schedule a first bargaining session. Since then, the union says, the company has stalled and refused to bargain in good faith.
Despite that, worker support for the union remains undiminished. When the union election was held Aug. 22, 2023, the vote was 20-12 in favor of joining. A year later, some anti-union employees called for a decertification vote, but the result of that Oct. 1 tally was 21 in favor of the union and 9 against.
On Oct. 12, members voted to authorize a strike. Further bargaining is scheduled for Oct. 24-25.
The union is calling for supporters to sign an online petition demanding that Anheuser-Busch return to the bargaining table and negotiate a fair contract.
