Ramping up pressure: Molson Coors strikers slow traffic at Fort Worth facility

The union behind workers striking at Fort Worth’s Molson-Coors brewery said they started stalling vehicles from entering the campus this week, resulting in traffic delays on South Freeway.

Rick Miedema, secretary and treasurer for Teamsters Local 997, said they hope it increases the pressure on the company to meet their demands.

“Molson Coors refuses to go to the table with us... All that’s hurting here now is the public because every day we’re shutting this freeway down with the amount of traffic out here,” Miedema said.

Workers are asking for higher pay and better health care and retirement benefits.

In a statement to NBC 5, the company said it’s still committed to agreeing and said they have put offers on the table.

“We remain committed to doing what’s right for everyone and reaching a fair agreement in Fort Worth. We’ve offered highly competitive wages and benefits off an already strong base and participated in nearly 40 negotiating sessions with the union as we work towards a deal. We also continue to have strong contingency plans in place that will allow us to meet distributor and retailer demand. For instance, we continue to brew, package, and ship out of Fort Worth, our five other U.S. breweries are absorbing the extra production, and we spent the past few months deliberately building up distributor inventories across the country.” - Adam Collins, Molson Coors’ Chief Communications Officer

But Miedema said efforts have not been enough and that fellow Teamsters have recently been able to bargain successfully with Coors’ main competitor, Anheuser-Busch.

“We’re looking for a reciprocal agreement from Molson Coors,” he said.

But now local drivers are also feeling an impact.

Miedema said workers started stalling cars and trucks at the gates for five minutes each.

He said the tactic resulted in an hours-long delay for employees on Tuesday, and the Molson-Coors tried to file a temporary restraining order against them.

He said company and union attorneys met with a judge on Tuesday evening, who ruled that the workers could delay cars by 90 seconds each.

“For the judge to come back and say 90 seconds, we’re please with that, we’re accepting it, and we’re moving forward,” Miedema said.

NBC 5 saw the impact even 90 seconds could have, as cars piled up on Freeway behind stalled trucks, even in non-peak hours.

Commuter Joshua Garcie said he passes by the picketers twice daily as he goes between Burleson and downtown Fort Worth to drop off and pick up his wife from work.

He said he was already experiencing a slowdown in the post-work hours, where TxDOT says road work is also causing delays.

“Coming home from work to go pick her up before heading down to Mansfield, I come straight up I-35, and what used to take 25 minutes or so now takes 40 plus as drivers are slowing down to look over at the strikers,” Garcie said. I understand people stopping, looking, supporting. It’s a part of a strike.”

Garcie said he still supports the picketers.

“Just kind of stick with it and suffer through the delay,” he said.

Miedema knows other drivers may not be as understanding.

“The message to the drivers is... We know we’re out here, we’re exercising our right under the National Labor Relations Act to picket the employer. If they have a problem with us picketing, they need to call Molson Coors and tell them to get off and get back to the table and bargain a fair contract with their employees,” he said.

Miedema and others think the new pressure tactic is working.

“I feel like now the company knows that we’re out here,” said employee Juan Maldonado.

Maldonado said nearly a month of picketing has been challenging.

“Mentally, it’s very stressful because we don’t know what’s going to happen. The company’s existed for more than 50 years, and we’ve never been on strike before,” he said.

He hopes the long-term wins will be worth it.

“We can progress, we can get what we want out of this,” Maldonado said.