Teamsters File New Anheuser Complaints

The Teamsters union filed new complaints against Anheuser-Busch Cos. with the National Labor Relations Board and said it will challenge plans by the beer maker to start operating under its most recent contract offer. The Teamsters, representing more than 8,000, or about a third, of Anheuser-Busch’s employees, said the company refuses to put proposals in writing and has stopped allowing union members to pay dues through payroll deduction. Last week, the Teamsters asked the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service to mediate the talks. That request came after the St. Louis-based brewer of Budweiser and Michelob beers said it would start operating under terms of its most recent contract offer on Monday because the talks were at an impasse. Late last week, the NLRB rejected charges of bad-faith negotiations by each side against the other. The union has not set a strike deadline. Anheuser-Busch and the Teamsters have been negotiating since November. The union says the brewer refuses to improve some pension benefits and insists on subcontracting some jobs. The contract expired Feb. 28.