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Anchor Brewery Workers Want to Save Their Company by Buying It

Members of the Anchor Brewing Company, America’s oldest craft beer maker, want to buy the 127-year-old company and run it as a co-op to avoid going out of business, union officials said. .

The company said last week that economic pressures, including the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, “have forced it to make the sad decision to cease operations.” But with 60 days’ notice and promised severance pay, employees suggested a way to keep the beer flowing.

According to a proposal from an Anchor employee, the workers “decided to begin an effort to acquire the brewery and operate it as a workers’ cooperative.” Pedro De Sa, a sales representative for the International Ports and Warehouses Union Local 6, whose members include workers from Anchor Corp., proposed Wednesday to Sapporo USA president Mike Minami, who owns the company. sent the letter.

“All we want is an impartial outlook on whether we can keep working, making the beer we love and keeping this historic facility open,” the letter reads. “We don’t want the breweries and brands we love to be sold off before they have a chance.”

on wednesday, An anchor worker who is in the union posted a link To VinePair on Twitter: “It’s time to test everyone’s love for this brand. Let’s work it out together and get back what we’ve been missing.”

Anchor spokesman Sam Singer declined to comment on the proposal on Thursday, but said about 20 investors and individuals have expressed interest in buying Anchor Brewing Company’s assets.

“It’s heartening to see so many companies stepping up to carry on the legacy of San Francisco’s iconic companies and beer,” Singer said. “We expect Anchor to be acquired and to continue into the future, but that decision is in the hands of the liquidators and will depend on what the potential acquirer presents.”

Japanese beer giant Sapporo Acquisition Founded in 1896, the company was acquired in 2017 for about $85 million. In 2019, anchor workers voted to form a union. Description Inadequate wages and unfair working conditions.

De Sa said in an interview on Thursday that he had met with 39 union members, about two-thirds of the brewery’s workforce. At a meeting at the factory on Wednesday, employees agreed to form a committee to review the rules and pursue further steps to contest ownership.

“There was an agreement to set up a co-op and aim to purchase from Sapporo, and we notified the company on the same day,” De Sa said. “We expect companies to give workers a fair chance.”

However, the day was approaching when the company’s liquidation proceedings began on August 2nd.

“The schedule is very short,” De Sa said. “As far as we know, this company is going to be sold for parts and we want enough time to make a serious bid.”

When the closure was announced on July 12, ILWU Local 6 said: explained it This is the “tragedy” of large corporations taking over local institutions from their trans-Pacific bases and “failing to figure out how to market, sell and distribute great products that have been loved for generations.” It is accepted as a “consequent result”.

Anchor has stopped brewing beer, but has announced that it will continue to sell beer until it runs out or until the end of July, whichever comes first. anchor public tap We will sell the remaining inventory.

As news of the store’s impending closing spread, fans lined up outside the taproom to buy t-shirts, cases of beer, and clear out any leftover inventory. The Associated Press reported.In the Bay Area, NBC News reported this week that other investors showed interest to save the brewery.

The union said at the time that the anchor steam was “just a budget item” for the city of Sapporo, but workers and the city of San Francisco were “suffering from the consequences.”

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