Union picketers cite seniority, overtime issues in contract dispute with City Brewery

Union workers say seniority and overtime are issues that have placed them at odds with management at Latrobe’s City Brewery during contract negotiations.

They took their message to the streets Friday, as about 50 people participated in a morning informational picket outside the brewery. More were expected in the afternoon. Horn honks from passing motorists joined the picketers’ chants and signs of union support as they marched between the plant’s Ligonier Street facade and a rear truck entrance.

“We want a fair contract,” said Bob Charettie, president of IUE-CWA Local 144, which represents about 145 workers involved in packaging tasks for the brewery. “It’s about treating the workers like they should be treated.”

Management has been “trying to circumvent seniority throughout negotiations,” said Bill Palmer, president of IUE-CWA Local 22, which has 50 members employed in the plant’s brewing department. “They’ve tried to take seniority rights away — where you can pick your shift.”

“When you’ve been here long enough, you should keep your seniority, not be told where to go based on what the company wants,” Charettie said.

A spokesperson said City Brewery would continue to honor seniority and job bidding under a new “last, best and final contract offer” proposed by the company.

“We have been meeting with our employees to ensure they have accurate information and we remain committed to getting a strong contract in place,” the spokesperson said in a statement later Friday.

The union representatives also claim the company is trying to force members to work extra 12-hour shifts while taking away overtime pay.

“They want to go with a continuous schedule of 12-hour shifts, seven days a week,” Charettie said. “The problem is they’re forcing people to work more than what they’re scheduled.”

He said weekly operations at the plant were cut back from a seven-day schedule to six days in early October.

“After a contract is ratified, I feel we’ll be back to seven days a week,” he said.

The City Brewery spokesperson said the company has “offered to implement an alternative work schedule during periods when the business is facing increased demand in order to address our employees’ work/life balance during these periods.”

“Under this proposal, employees would have seven days off in a 14-day period, (and) they would be paid straight time and overtime at the higher rates proposed in the contract for any hours above their schedule, or over 40 hours in a week.”

The union members had been working under a contract extension that expired at 5 p.m. Thursday, March 3.

Union representatives said members will continue to perform their jobs while objecting to the company’s latest contract proposal.

The local union presidents declined to discuss specifics of compensation proposed in that offer, which was presented Tuesday.

According to Palmer, the company began contract talks by seeking concessions, before moving toward the union’s position on that topic.

Still, he said, “The wages they’re offering are not where they need to be.”

“City Brewery has spent over six months working hard to reach an agreement with the IUE-CWA union for our Latrobe brewery,” the company spokesperson said. “Our most recent offer included significant wage increases for all covered employees — nearly 23% for new hires — upfront payments on signing, enhanced vacation accruals and competitive benefits.”

City Brewery recently signed a five-year lease for a warehouse and distribution site at the RIDC Westmoreland industrial complex in East Huntingdon. It said the move was part of an effort toward “increasing our production operations to support additional customers.”

Ten union members are working at the site, where the company expects to add 50 to 60 jobs.

Latrobe Brewing, which was founded in 1893 as part of the Pittsburgh Brewing Co., started producing its flagship Rolling Rock beer in 1939 after Prohibition ended.

City Brewing bought the property from Anheuser-Busch Co. after it paid $82 million for the Rolling Rock brand in 2006 and moved its production to New Jersey.

City Brewing had shut down in late 2008, when Boston Beer Co. moved its Sam Adams beer production from Latrobe to a plant in the Allentown area. Brewing at the facility resumed in 2009 with Iron City Beer and several other contract brewing deals. Those include, or have included, Stoney’s and Stoney’s Light, Guinness Blonde American Lager and Red Stripe.

Pittsburgh Brewing Co. announced plans in February 2021 to produce its own brands — Iron City, IC Light, IC Light Mango, Old German Premium Lager, American and American Light, and Block House Brewing Summer Break — at a former glass plant in Creighton, East Deer. Work continues to begin production at that facility.