Beer Distribution Strike Poised To Enter Third Week 

Beverage distributor employees for southern West Virginia have now been on strike for two weeks and counting. 

Forty-nine striking workers of The Beverage Market in Charleston have been on the picket line 24-7, in shifts, through the rainy weekend and the holiday.  

The workers are members of Teamsters Local 175. 

Spokesman Luke Farley says workers are being asked to do without benefits that have been in place for years. 

“They want some groups of people to go backwards in pay,” Farley, the secretary-treasurer for Local 175, said. “They want to eliminate significant portions of the employee’s retirement. They want to increase what people pay for health insurance by 900% which would result in over a $5 an hour cut in pay, as well.”  

He insisted the company has not claimed financial hardship. 

“If the company was struggling financially, we’d be having a much different conversation. They have not claimed to be struggling financially. These are just punitive proposals,” Farley said. 

The Beverage Market is the sole distributor for Miller-Coors products in several counties of West Virginia. It also distributes Modelo, Red Bull and several other beverages.  

Farley said some managers have crossed picket lines to make deliveries to large accounts.  

The Beverage Market has not responded to multiple requests for comment.