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    Monday, 31 March 2008

    Stella, Stella, Stella, Strike, Strike, Strike

    So I'm sat in a Wetherspoons today (drinking Stone California Double IPA (yee-ha)) and reading their newspaper. There's an article about Stella Artois. Apparently it's "the most widely available draught lager in UK pubs" and "the third biggest grocery brand in the UK after Coca-Cola and Walkers". Then I'm at home surfing the wicked (I mean wide) web and find this:

    "Soaring commodity costs and falling sales of its premium lager have forced Inbev, the Belgian brewing giant, to axe up to 250 jobs at two Stella Artois breweries in Lancashire and Wales. Up to 166 workers in Samlesbury, Lancashire, and 80 in Magor, south Wales, face redundancy after an operational review by Inbev. A consultation process with affected employees has started. Unions and workers' representatives have vowed to fight the move, which the GMB union described as "shocking".

    Too bloody right it's shocking. "An operational review" to me basically means the same output with fewer staff. Make the buggers work harder. Hopefully the GMB will take appropriate action, and show the bastards what's what .

    5 comments:

    Anonymous said...

    Unfortunately, if they withdraw their labour, everyone will just drink Kronenbourg... same difference...

    Tandleman said...

    Stella is spiralling down. It means a great deal of schaedenfreude for some of us, but unfortunately there is always a human cost.

    Zak Avery said...

    Any idea what percentage of the workforce these figures represent, maeib?

    Mark Edwards said...

    Zak - I suspect quite small. I'll see what I can find out. But any job lost in the name of an operational review is too much.

    Unknown said...

    I reckon that's over ten per cent of their UK and Ireland workforce. Sales down, profits down, employee numbers cut. Sad to say it's a simple calculation for a global business.