Spontaneous trade union actions at AB InBev: “General malaise and problems of toxic leadership”

According to the unions, there is a “general malaise” at De Brouwer, and there are problems of “toxic leadership”. The unions want to give a signal with their actions that it is “not possible if”.

ABVV secretary Pieter van der Elst talks about “difficult social consultation”, “a structural understaffing” and “a lack of respect for trade unions and employees”. “Because there is too few staff, the workload becomes particularly high,” says Van der Elst. “There must be urgent extra investments. But the social consultation must also be done properly again: AB InBev urgently needs to change the gun of shoulder.”

The same story can be heard at ACV. “There is a general atmosphere of malaise in the company,” says secretary Sander Mouton. “Social consultation is not running. Employees are treated as numbers. Managers shift their responsibilities to the workers: it can’t go any further.”

“Buiten Proportion”

Among other things, the brewers of Leuven and Hoegaarden have set up a strike post. In Leuven, external suppliers are not admitted to the site, work -willing staff members can pass.

“The wild strike with some of the employees since this morning is unacceptable,” says Esther Louis, spokesperson for AB InBev. “We strongly believe in social consultation, but irresponsible actions such as today are at odds. Almost all our employees work every day to bring our beloved beers to the consumer, these kinds of actions by individuals are out of proportion.”