'Defeated' union just wants to be 'left alone' after 127-year old Anchor Brewing closure announced
Unionized in 2019 by the ILWU and DSA, America's oldest brewery shuts down
Less than four years after unionizing and bargaining their first contract, workers at San Francisco’s Anchor Brewing Company tweeted they were “sad,” “defeated” and “want to be left alone” after the 127-year old company announced its closure and liquidation of assets last week.
“Anchor said it has tried unsuccessfully for a year to find a buyer and hopes one might still come forward during the liquidation process,” reported Fox News on Wednesday.
"Anchor has invested great passion and significant resources into the company," Sam Singer, a spokesperson for the company, said. "Unfortunately, today's economic pressures have made the business no longer sustainable, and we had to make the heartbreaking decision to cease operations."
In 2017, the iconic craft brewery was purchased by Japan’s Sapporo Holdings Ltd for an estimated $85 million.
By 2019, however, workers launched a campaign with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU)—with help from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)—to unionize the brewery, citing wages and poor conditions as their driving factors.
“The duties were split between the ILWU and DSA organizers,” explained the DSA at the time and over the course of the next year we met at the DSA office.”
After unionizing in March 2019, the union and company executed a contract in December 2019 providing wage increases and new benefits.
The contract provided Anchor’s brewery workers with an across-the-board average raise of 21 percent over three years, Vinepair.com reported at the time. For workers at the Public Taps, the bump was 28 percent.
“This is an important chapter in the history of the ILWU and in the history of one of the most storied and beloved beers in America,” ILWU International Vice President Bobby Olvera Jr. stated at the time.
Following the announcement of Anchor Brewing Company’s closure, the ILWU blamed Sapporo for the brewery’s demise.
In a statement posted to Twitter, the ILWU stated:
“This is the tragic consequence of a multi-billion dollar, transnational corporation, headquartered across the Pacific Ocean, taking over a local institution and failing to understand how to market, sell, and distribute a great product that has been loved for generations.”
“To Sapporo, Anchor Steam was just another line item in the budget of their multi-billion dollar corporation and an asset to be cut up and sold but it is the workers and the City of San Francisco dollar that suffer the consequences.”
Not everyone believes the closure is entirely management’s fault, however.
“You schmucks ruined a legacy business,” San Francisco political commentator and former mayoral candidate Richie Greenberg told the New York Post. “Your union fought for 25% raises, and now your members are getting 100% of zero. Bravo.
“This union was not prioritizing the long-term health of the business,” Greenberg said.