A-B InBev vs. Belgium: The Battle Rages On

An artist’s rendering of what could happen if Belgian beer workers recruited local monks to join their cause, and if A-B InBev somehow created a robot army to impose their will, and if everyone agreed to take LSD for the good of the experience.

Last week on the Mutineer Blog we took a look at a dispute brewing between A-B InBev and its Belgian workers over proposed layoffs.

According to, “UPDATE 2-AB InBev fails to end Belgian beer blockades” a follow-up article on Reuters:
The Belgian workers have blocked the entrances to the company’s plants in Leuven and Liege for 13 days and a week at Hoegaarden in protest at AB InBev’s plan to cut a net 263 jobs out of its 2,700 Belgian workforce.

Beer in Belgium is like football in Dallas, and jobs in Belgium are valued like jobs anywhere else in the world, so it is unlikely either side will surrender quietly.

In other news, A-B InBev’s profit margin in Belgium is looking up. BOOYA. According to the same Reuters story:
The company sold 5.6 percent less beer in the region on a like-for-like basis in the first nine months of 2009, part of a general downward trend exacerbated by the economic crisis, although its profit margin increased.

If the workers don’t give in and stop blocking factory entrances, A-B InBev will be forced (pun intended) to execute PLAN B: A hover-bridge made out of platinum, diamonds, corn, and rice to carry delivery trucks over the protesting workers. It could work…

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