Denmark: Carlsberg beer supplies running dry as employees demand salary increases

Union officials say the 1,100 Carlsberg employees on strike have returned to work to enable new negotiations with the brewer about wage increases, Business Week reported on May, 18.

More than half of the company's workers in the country went on strike last week, suspending deliveries. Employees are demanding salary increases of between one and 1.5 percent, while the company is seeking to freeze wages this year.

According to Carlsberg spokesperson Jens Bekke, the strike is the most serious the company has experienced in Denmark since 1985.

The effects of the industrial action are now beginning to be felt on supermarket shelves and behind bars.

Supplies are running out, especially in the west of the country, according to Bekke. The last lorries went out on May, 18 to Copenhagen and there have been no deliveries to the west of Denmark for over a week.

Carlsberg has already diverted production of beer for some foreign markets including the US and Canada to other facilities to minimise the impact of the strike on business performance.

Management is sitting down again today, on May, 18 with the Danish union 3F to seek a resolution to the current impasse.

Bekke said it is in the interests of both parties to come to an agreement because the status quo is expensive for the company and employees alike. Carlsberg is losing business while workers are having to pay to strike because the industrial action has been declared illegal.

The strikers are seeking a pay rise, arguing that Carlsberg is making bigger profits and should therefore share the spoils with employees. But the brewer claims that profits are largely coming from outside of Denmark and that efficiency in the country is comparatively low.

Bekke said Carlsberg is looking to improve its productivity in Denmark by becoming more efficient in how it uses yeast and how it operates production lines. He said this means “working smarter, not harder”.

19 May, 2010