Great Lakes Organizing Committee - USW

07/23/2021

Unity leads to victory, Great Lakes workers just got our first Union Raise!

This time last year workers at Great Lakes Brewing Company began to assemble an organizing committee to survey our coworkers' interest in forming a union. Through the midst of covid our organizing committee worked tirelessly to safely perform meetings with coworkers and assess their concerns.

We found the most pressing concern for the majority of workers was to preserve the special place that Great Lakes Brewing Company has become to all of us. We always believed that our coworkers are the most valuable resource at GLBC, so along with preserving this workplace we sought to increase the impact of that most valuable resource by giving them a seat at the table.

With the committee's goals in place and our support steadily growing we searched for a union that would meet our high standards of worker participation and democracy. To that end we found the union that most closely aligned with our beliefs and goals was the United Steelworkers. Since the time of affiliation with the Steelworkers they have been integral in training us workers on organizing techniques and strategy which has led us to gaining the support we enjoy today.

Today the Great Lakes Organizing Committee is eager to announce our first of many victories. This week Great Lakes Brewing Company notified us that all brewery staff will receive a significant wage increase. This wage increase was proof of the timeless method of collective action and worker participation. Through the determined efforts of our organizing committee, our supportive coworkers, and the overwhelmingly positive public reaction to our campaign, workers made a small win today, our labor will not end here and we are set for even greater gains tomorrow.

07/21/2021

TAKE ACTION NOW!

Thank you for supporting the workers at the Great Lakes Brewing Company who are organizing a union with the United Steelworkers.

To show your support, please make a post with a photo of yourself (maybe while enjoying a Great Lakes beer) with a positive message of support for the workers who are building a union in the brewery.

Also, consider tagging the company Great Lakes Brewing Company and using the hashtag:

Your support in the community shows the workers building their union that they have your support and that lots of folks are excited about the opportunity to drink a union made craft brew!

Thanks Deb Kline from Cleveland Jobs with Justice for getting us started!!

07/17/2021

We're organizing to make our jobs even better. We want a say in the decisions that impact us. It's about the security that comes with knowing what's coming so that we can plan ahead for ourselves and our families. Thanks Nathan Ward for putting yourself out there and letting Cleveland know why we need a union.

07/16/2021

At least one thing is uniting mayoral candidates in Cleveland!

07/15/2021

We couldn't agree more. Thanks for your support, Nina Turner!

07/15/2021

“... it’s definitely headed in a direction that feels really healthy,” Sutherland added. “People are realizing if you want something to change, we have real power to try to make that happen.”

Minnesota’s oldest and newest union breweries have teamed up to craft a beer celebrating solidarity in the workplace.

07/13/2021

Great Lakes Brewing Co. workers launch campaign to unionize
JEREMY NOBILE

Employees at Great Lakes Brewing Co. who make, package and ship the Cleveland craft brewer's beer want to unionize.

Workers — specifically those involved in beer production — say they are seeking to organize a union with United Steelworkers (USW), according to a campaign page launched on Facebook.

"We are employees of the Great Lakes Brewing (Company), which is 'Employee Owned.' We're building a union with our co-workers because employee owners also deserve a voice on the job," reads a statement posted on that page. "We love working at GLBC and want to make it an even better place to work for ourselves and to preserve the positive aspects of our jobs."

GLBC formed an Employee Stock Ownership Program in 2018. However, an ESOP doesn't guarantee employment or ensure workers are provided things like raises or vacation time.

"Their biggest motivation has simply been they'd like to have a say over the decisions that are being made that impact their working conditions and increase their job security as they seek to stay at Great Lakes long-term because they really love the brewery," said an official at the USW, who is not an employee of GLBC and therefore asked not to be identified by name.

There is not necessarily one particular or top demand of the unionizing employees.

"I think they are largely motivated out of wanting to improve their working conditions in order to make Great Lakes an even better place to work," the USW official said.

United Steelworkers said there are approximately 55 employees involved in beer production and related jobs this unionizing effort represents.

Some of those employees first reached out to the organization in October regarding unionizing efforts. The impetus for that was not one event, per se. The effort is more due to the fact the GLBC "is a brewery that is growing and has undergone a lot of changes over the last several years," according to the USW official.

USW says it is the largest union in the aluminum beverage can industry and in glass bottle manufacturing. USW also represents beer truck delivery drivers in the Toledo area. The union said it does represent one other craft brewery: August Schell Brewing Co. in New Ulm, Minnesota.

What impact having both an ESOP and a union means for one or the other is not clear at this point, but having one doesn't necessarily exclude the other.

In terms of next steps, GLBC can choose to voluntarily recognize the union — which is not what typically happens in the business world. Otherwise, employees will have to file cards with the National Labor Relations Board initiating a vote whereby employees can decide whether to elect USW as their bargaining unit.

GLBC CEO Mark King said the brewery has no comment about the unionizing effort at this time.

GLBC reported 110 full-time equivalent employees in June 2020, according to the most recent Crain's research.

Founded in 1988, GLBC is the fifth-largest craft beer producer in the country and the 22nd-largest craft brewer by sales volume, according to the Brewers Association. It was recently pegged in one marketing analysis as one of the country's "most loved" brands, putting it in the company of nationally recognized brands like HelloFresh, Universal Music Group, Olay, Huggies, Fortnite and Mattel.

GLBC is not the only company whose employees announced recent efforts to unionize. Staffers at the newsroom at the Record-Courier newspaper in Kent, a publication owned by Gannett, recently announced a campaign to form a union there.

Workers looking to unionize are those involved in production and related jobs, including brewing, bottling and packaging. They would organize their union with the United Steelworkers.

07/12/2021

"The overwhelming majority of workers love working at Great Lakes. We wouldn't be doing this otherwise...."

"Yes this is about giving us a voice, but we also feel that a union would be good for [Great Lakes'] business," the GLOC member said. "People are going to love buying union-made craft beer in Cleveland."

Production workers for Great Lakes Brewing Company, the oldest and largest craft brewery in Ohio, signed union cards at the United Steelworkers union hall Sunday...

07/11/2021

We are employees of the Great Lakes Brewing Company, which is "Employee Owned." We're building a union with our co-workers because employee owners also deserve a voice on the job. We love working at GLBC and want to make it an even better place to work for ourselves and to preserve the positive aspects of our jobs.