Strike at Miller Brewing Co. ends after contract reached with parent company

Workers at the Miller Brewery in Milwaukee ended their week-long strike last week, according to a statement by Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers — part of the national AFL-CIO organization — represents mechanics and machine repair workers at the brewery.

When the strike started, workers told WPR that Molson Coors had made it harder to schedule vacations, and that they hoped a wage increase would attract new employees to their shrinking workforce.

The new contract “protects work-life balance and includes a family-sustaining wage increase,” according to Bloomingdale’s statement.

Adam Collins, a spokesperson for Molson Coors, said the three-year agreement is “fair to our valued team members and ensures that jobs in our Milwaukee Brewery remain competitive in the market.”

A Facebook post by IAM District 10’s Directing Business Representative Alex Hoekstra called the contract “much improved” and said he was “proud and impressed” by workers’ solidarity.

Miller Brewing Company has brewed beer in Milwaukee’s Miller Valley since German immigrant Frederick Miller purchased the land at 41st Street and State Street in 1855, when it was still a rural fringe of Milwaukee.

The brewery was owned by tobacco corporation Philip Morris from 1969 until a South African brewery bought it in 2002. In 2016, the federal Department of Justice forced that company to sell Miller to Molson Coors as part of an antitrust settlement.