If you’ve been anywhere near either Melbourne or a pub over the past handful of months, you definitely would’ve noticed something of a kerfuffle going on with Carlton & United Breweries, the largest beer producer in the nation.
But for those of you unaware of what’s been going down, here’s a little refresher:
Around three months ago, 55 skilled electricians, fitters, and maintenance workers employed at the CUB plant in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford were unceremoniously sacked and told to reapply for their jobs with a different company, Programmed.
CUB was outsourcing their fitting and electrical work and had awarded the contracted to Programmed. Programmed then turned around and offered those 55 workers their jobs back, with the exact same conditions, the exact same hours, and in the exact same location…
…but with 65% less pay.
If the 55 wanted to keep their jobs, they would have to accept working for only a THIRD of what they were getting paid previously.
In the 90-odd days since, the CUB55 have continuously picketed the Abbotsford brewery, even going so far as to haul in a pool table and a table tennis setup to help the sacked workers stave off boredom whilst picketing.
In the interim, the company has been trucking in replacement workers from WA, ferried into and out of the building in vehicles with blacked out windows to protect them from the brays of the picket line. These confrontations have caused the Fair Work Commission to step in and cite anti-bullying laws; specifically barring picketers from insulting and abusing replacement workers with epithets like “scab,” “rat,” and “fuckwit.”
For their part, CUB has remained reasonably tight-lipped about the situation, insisting that it’s an issue between the sacked workers and Programmed, not CUB itself. In a statement to ABC RN program Background Briefing, the company elaborated on things:
“We expect the businesses we partner with to be able to meet their contractual and legal obligations. Flexibility, cost and maintenance performance were issues for CUB with the previous contractor that we sought to address in an improved maintenance model.”
Yesterday, thousands of unionists and sympathisers marched through the streets of Melbourne, from AFL House in Docklands all the way up to State Parliament to voice their outrage about the treatment of those workers.
And the starting point of AFL House isn’t a coincidence. Hell, it’s extremely significant.
After pubs nationwide began boycotting CUB beer in solidarity with the picket, there’s now a new push to urge punters across Australia to ensure their Grand Final Weekend is completely CUB-free.
That would mean people either watching either the NRL or the AFL Grand Final at home, in pubs, or at functions, voluntarily steer away from products that CUB produces, which includes VB, Carlton Draught, Melbourne Bitter, Fat Yak, Great Northern Lager, Foster’s, Cascade Pale Ale, Pure Blonde, Crown Lager, Peroni, Carlton Dry, and ciders Bulmers and Strongbow.
A boycott of CUB products on the AFL’s biggest weekend of the year is absolutely significant because, well…
Yeah.
For as long as advertising in football been a thing, Carlton Draught has been intrinsically linked with the VFL/AFL. It’s one of, if not the, longest branding partnerships the league has had. And at games, in broadcasting, and elsewhere, the link between the two is utterly inescapable.
So to that end, a major consumer boycott of CUB products on that weekend in particular is hugely significant. Not just for the fact that it would drastically impact sales on what’s supposed to be a spike weekend for the company, but in just how utterly easy it is to pull off.
In fact, the only place where a boycott can’t really be observed is at the actual MCG itself, which is wrapped up so tightly by CUB contracting that it’s practically Fort Foster’s.
At the time of writing, just south of 6,200 registrations to participate in the CUB Grand Final boycott have been lodged on the Australian Unions official page.
If you’re planning a Grand Final do and want to show your support to the CUB55, you can register your party or BBQ here. And you can also share the event with your mates on Facebook.
Photo: Shaun Leane MP/Getty.
