Posts Categorized: Distillery

On March 8, members of UFCW Local 7 who are employed as distillery workers at Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey in Denver unanimously ratified a first union contract that strengthens workplace protections and improves wages and benefits.

These workers, who process Stranahan’s Rocky Mountain Single Malt from grain to glass, joined our union family because they were concerned about unsafe working conditions and wanted better wages, benefits, and a voice in the workplace. Their first union contract addresses those issues.

The three-year contract includes a formal safety team that is comprised of workers and union officials, as well as a boot voucher and other safety enhancements. The safety team met before the contract was finalized and it was discovered that the workers were lacking in areas such as active shooter training. The company is now checking into active shooter training for all employees.

The employees had no structure for advancement or raises and now they have a matrix to know exactly what areas they need to improve upon in order to advance to higher pay brackets. With the new contract, some workers are receiving several dollar per hour raises. Other contract gains include guaranteed two days off in a row and the requirement that one of those days must be a weekend day. The members are now guaranteed an allotment of their hard work in the distillery.

These gains were not easy and the local held two support pickets in front of the facility to put pressure on the company to give the members a fair contract. One of these events was a two-day picket during the company’s biggest public relations event of the year that involves a rare “snowflake” bottle and draws over a thousand people trying to get a bottle. Customers went into the distillery to get their snowflake bottles wearing pins that told the company the workers deserve a fair contract.

“For years, management pushed us harder and faster to reach continuously higher production goals while our facility and systems deteriorated,” said Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey Distiller Charles Koller. “Going union is our push to make our management provide so that we can do our jobs safely and fairly and earn a living wage. We’re excited to have new protections, as well as a clear path to earn fair and consistent raises.”

Sales Representatives at Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits in Syracuse, N.Y., recently joined UFCW Local 2D for a better life. This new unit of over 200 workers sells wine and spirits to restaurants, bars, clubs, and hotel and liquor retail stores in Upstate New York.

The Sales Representatives joined our union family because they were concerned about the many years of changes to their compensation and unfair working conditions among different divisions. They also wanted the same benefits as their unionized Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits colleagues in the New York metro area and Delaware, who are also represented by UFCW Local 2D. This unit was originally granted recognition via card check earlier this year, but a few workers and a national right to work organization tried to block the process.

The campaign to organize these workers included communications by the local to the sales force via Zoom, as well as in-person visits. UFCW Local 2D organizers also used social media and the card signing process to connect with the workers.

“It was very important to make sure we had a successful result to organize Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits,” said UFCW Local 2D President Stephen T. Booras. “Prior attempts made from 2008 to the present were unsuccessful, so by having the union, all three houses (Southern Glazer’s Wine & Spirits, Republic National Distributing Company, and Empire Merchants) are all unionized. This gives us and the people strength at the bargaining table.”