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Thursday, June 11, 2009

Cutting Benefits

There has been a lot of news in the U.S. lately about companies cutting benefits to stay afloat.

I work for a company that offers little or no benefits except free coffee and some paid time off when you can get it. I can’t complain, I basically sign a contract to work under those conditions each time I walk through door in the morning.

I understand the need to cut expenses to stay solvent, but has Canada’s Molson brewery gone to far?

From YellowBrix and UPI (Tuesday, June 9, 2009):


Some 2,400 retirees from Canada's Molson brewery are angry with the company's decision to phase out their free monthly beer allotments.

Retirees in Vancouver, Montreal and St. John's, Newfoundland, received a letter saying the company intended to standardize its perks across the country to current and past employees, the Toronto Star reported Tuesday.

After Jan. 1, current Newfoundland workers' allotment will fall from 72 dozen bottles or cans a year to 52 dozen, the company said. Retirees' free beer will fall from six dozen bottles a month to one dozen and will be phased out in five years, the report said.

In Vancouver and Montreal, unions have filed grievances against the company, which said the free beer costs about $1 million per year, the Star said.

St. John's retiree Bill Bavis, who worked for Molson for 32 years, told the Star he found the cutback announcement unfair.

"I think with the economic downturn they're trying to take advantage of us, as a way to cut retirees' benefits and justify it," he said.
In April, parent company Molson Coors announced its net profit more than doubled in the first quarter compared to last year, to $75.7 million, the newspaper said (end).


Sir Bowie (I can live without company health insurance, but no free beer?) of Greenbriar

4 comments:

  1. It's a cruel world. I work for a company that has benefits...the problem is...I own it! That translates into one reason I could vote Repbulican...if it didn't mean that I'd have to be a social moron otherwise.

    Here's the scoop, I don't mind sharing figures. I have had Open Heart and Back Fusion Surgery within the past 7 years. This means I'm stuck with Anthem Blue Cross, because nobody else will take me for pre-existing conditions. If I didn't have the insurance when I had these health issues, we would be homeless and pennyless right now. Here's the rub...my insurance just informed me that starting in July my premiums go up to $1,485 per month! YES PER FREAKIN MONTH! Now get this...as a business owner, I have to claim this as income and pay taxes on it at the end of the year! Plus...I have to pay Federal, Social Security, State taxes on the money I take out...both individually...and as a corporation. I have to pay unemployment on myself! When it's all said and done...I might break even at the end of the month between salary and expenditures.

    Thus, I've hauled my arse up to Chicago to get so more business of which I can pay so more God Damn taxes on! I can feel the Alien Rush Limbaugh wanting to burst from my open heart scar right now!

    But, I trust that Big O will overall this God Damn healthcare and insurance industry mess!

    So, I gave a homeless black guy a Jackson on my way back to my room last night to plant a seed of hope somewhere in this crazy mess!

    So, the Canadians get health care...so I can't feel sorry for their loss of free beer. Pony up to the bar and pay like the rest of us!

    Can you tell I'm pissed this morning just thinking about this shit! LOL!

    Sir Hook I'm Made As Hell and I Won't Take It ANYMORE of Warrick

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  2. Smaller Government!
    Lower Taxes!!
    More Freedom!!!
    Join the Party of Principle!!!!
    Join the Libertarian Party!!!!!

    Sir Bowie "thinking government's role should be only to help individuals defend themselves from force and fraud -- something government seems to be doing to us" of Greenbriar

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  3. OK..Do they serve free beer? I feel better now...until I get next month's insurance bill.

    Sir Hook Who Is Dodging Bullets While Wearing His Cards Hat in Cubs Town of Warrick

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  4. Clearly we stumbled onto Hooky's Bete Noir there...., and there's me grumbling that my national insurance has just gone up to $16 a month.

    Don't worry Hooks... if you fall down in the street full of beer here, the ambulance will cart you away for free.

    Sir Dayvd ( who benefits a little from living on a tiny island ) of oxenfordshire

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