Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Beer supplies threatened!! Hostages taken!!

When's the last time you heard of beer strikers taking hostages? We take our beer seriously here in Belgium. The London Times reports that supplies of Stella Artois (affectionately know as the "wife beater" in the UK) are running seriously low.









A labor dispute in the Flemish region of Belgium is affecting the world’s largest brewery. Union workers in the city of Leuven where InBev's brewery is are upset by a plan by Anheuser-Busch – InBev to cut 263 jobs.

The international mega-brewer makes Bud and Bud Light. In Belgium, it produces Stella Artois among other brands. But a blockade of the company’s headquarters in Belgium is disrupting supplies.

About 10 managers at an Anheuser-Busch InBev brewery in Jupille in eastern Belgium were taken hostage by worker union officials after the company announced it was firing about 10 percent of its Belgium workers.

“We are demanding that the (company’s) senior managers come here and call off the lay-offs,” Marc Devenne, a union representative was quoted as saying by the Belga news agency.
See one story here.

One of Leuven's landmarks is a statue called the Fountain of Wisdom. It’s of a student reading a book while pouring liquid (wisdom) into his head. Maybe it’s Stella.....

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