Anheuser-Busch, Incorporated and Teamsters Reach Tentative Agreement; Proposed Five-Year Contract Provides Industry-Leading Wages and Benefits.Business Editors ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 22, 2003 Anheuser-Busch, Incorporated (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :BUD) and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Teamsters large, powerful union of U. S. truckers. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 2703] See : Labor have reached a tentative agreement on a five-year contract covering approximately 7,500 employees at the company's 12 U.S. breweries. The proposed contract calls for wage increases in each year of the contract. If the union membership ratifies the contract on the first vote and the results are in by Dec. 1, Teamster-represented employees will receive a $1,000 signing bonus A signing bonus or sign-on bonus is a sum of money paid to a new employee by a company as an incentive to join that company. These are often given as a way of making a compensation package more attractive to the employee e.g. if the annual salary is lower than they desire. and a renewal of the company's contractual commitment to keep all 12 breweries open throughout the life of the new agreement. National and local Teamsters leadership have unanimously recommended that its members ratify the tentative agreement. The current contract expires Feb. 29, 2004. "Our tentative agreement contains a compensation package that ranks among the best in all of American industry, while enabling Anheuser-Busch to continue to operate efficiently and uphold our responsibility to our shareholders," said Mark T. Bobak, vice president, Corporate Human Resources The fancy word for "people." The human resources department within an organization, years ago known as the "personnel department," manages the administrative aspects of the employees. , Anheuser-Busch, Companies, Inc. "From the beginning, the parties had professional and timely discussions of all issues." The tentative agreement calls for wage increases of 65 cents per hour in year one, 60 cents per hour in years two, three and four, and 55 cents per hour in year five. The tentative agreement provides for the maintenance of an excellent health care package with no employee- paid premiums in company-sponsored plans and pension increases of 14 percent for defined benefit plans Defined benefit plan A pension plan obliging the sponsor to make specified dollar payments to qualifying employees at retirement. The pension obligations are effectively the debt obligation of the plan sponsor. Related: Defined contribution plan . "Maintaining health care benefits is an increasingly significant portion of our total compensation package," Bobak said. "More and more employees are seeing their health care benefits reduced at other companies in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. ." Anheuser-Busch, Incorporated is the world's largest brewer with 12 domestic breweries and distribution in more than 80 countries. The company's portfolio of more than 30 brands includes Budweiser, the world's best-selling best·sell·er also best seller n. A product, such as a book, that is among those sold in the largest numbers. best beer; Bud Light, the world's No. 1 light beer; Michelob; Michelob Light; Michelob ULTRA; Busch; and a variety of specialty beers, imports and non-alcohol brews. |
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