If you happen to’re on the lookout for a Modelo, Blue Moon or Sam Adams at your native watering gap, deli or bodega, it’s possible you’ll quickly be out of luck.
The 600 unionized employees at Manhattan Beer & Beverage Distributors went on strike Tuesday, the day their contract expired. They are saying the corporate is participating in unfair labor practices by making an attempt to deal straight with the workers relatively than negotiate with the union and is threatening to finish pensions.
Unionized, Beverage Distributors Laundry, Distribution, and Meals Service Joint Board, Employees United/SEIU (LDFS Union), staff of Manhattan Beer and Beverage Distributors, stroll the picket line exterior their employer on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 within the Bronx. (Barry Williams/ New York Every day Information)
Picket strains fashioned Tuesday morning on the distributor’s Hunts Level headquarters on E. 149th St. within the Bronx and at different amenities owned by the corporate on Metropolitan Ave. in Ridgewood, Queens, in addition to in Wyandanch, L.I., and Suffern, N.Y., within the Hudson Valley.
“We’re here fighting for fair wages,” stated Manhattan Beer worker Manuel Maldonado from the picket line within the Bronx. “There’s a lot of things that we do that are unsafe. People that drink in the city, they don’t see what we do that gets that beer into the places that we do. Sometimes we go out with kegs that weigh about 160 pounds each.”
Unionized, Beverage Distributors Laundry, Distribution, and Meals Service Joint Board, Employees United/SEIU (LDFS Union), staff of Manhattan Beer and Beverage Distributors, stroll the picket line exterior their employer on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 within the Bronx. (Barry Williams/ New York Every day Information)
“People come here and they get hurt like it’s nothing because of slippery things, very unsafe basements,” stated Maldonado, a 15-year worker with the distributor. “The pension is just the cherry on top of the cake, where it’s like, ‘OK, enough is enough. How much are you going to take away from us?’”
Manhattan Beer staff provide bars, eating places, delis and groceries all through New York Metropolis, Westchester, Lengthy Island and the Hudson Valley with beer, wine and cider with their fleet of 350 vehicles.
Unionized, Beverage Distributors Laundry, Distribution, and Meals Service Joint Board, Employees United/SEIU (LDFS Union), staff of Manhattan Beer and Beverage Distributors, stroll the picket line exterior their employer on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 within the Bronx. (Barry Williams/ New York Every day Information)
“We’re the backbone of Manhattan Beer & Beverage. We’ve helped it succeed,” stated Joe Gonzalez, a beer supply employee. “We deserve real retirement security, fair wages and respect on the job. We’re angry that they have been trying to sidestep our union and our bargaining committee on the critical issue of our pensions.”
The distribution and supply employees are a part of the Laundry, Distribution and Meals Service Joint Board, Employees United/SEIU, who say that they’ve proposed a $1.50 increase per hour to extend pension advantages, whereas the corporate is demanding to depart the pension fund.
Unionized, Beverage Distributors Laundry, Distribution, and Meals Service Joint Board, Employees United/SEIU (LDFS Union), staff of Manhattan Beer and Beverage Distributors, stroll the picket line exterior their employer on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 within the Bronx. (Barry Williams/ New York Every day Information)
“That would cause drastic reductions to their future pensions and mean newer employees would have no pension benefit,” stated Albert Arroyo, co-manager of the Laundry, Distribution and Meals Service Joint Board, Employees United/SEIU. “Without monthly pension benefits when they retire, these workers will struggle in old age to pay for housing, groceries and other necessities of life.”
Representatives from Manhattan Beer couldn’t instantly be reached.
Initially Revealed: April 15, 2025 at 12:59 PM EDT
