Teamsters Push Boycott Of Molson Coors Beers During NCAA Final Four

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters has a message for basketball fans: Don’t drink Molson Coors beers during the NCAA Final Four.

The union is boycotting the company’s products nationwide amid a strike at the Molson Coors facility in Fort Worth, Texas. Roughly 400 workers have been on the picket lines since Feb. 17 after failing to reach a new contract with the Canadian-American brewer.

The two sides have not met since a bargaining session last week in which the company increased its offer on wage raises by just a nickel per hour, according to Jeff Padellaro, director of the Teamsters’ brewery conference. Padellaro said the company had been offering wage hikes of 99 cents prior to that.

“In our opinion, they’re not looking to get an agreement; they’re looking to break the union,” Padellaro said. “They’re going to find out that’s a fool’s errand.”

Adam Collins, a spokesperson for Molson Coors, said the company had offered “highly competitive wages and benefits off an already strong base” and was “committed to reaching a fair agreement.” He insisted the company was getting along fine through the work stoppage.

“We’re still brewing, packaging and shipping out of Fort Worth ― in fact we’ve exceeded all of our weekly production expectations since the strike began ― and our other five U.S. breweries are absorbing extra production,” Collins said in a statement.

The boycott has been in place since mid-March, and the union has tried to amplify its message in recent days.

The Teamsters’ political director circulated a letter among lawmakers on Capitol Hill in late March asking that they not purchase Molson Coors products during the congressional recess. Lawmakers also received a flyer with the full boycott list, which