Cutbacks reach scary new level: Employees lose free beer

In another sign of the times, a major brewery has been forced to cut back on one of its best-loved employment perks.
Canadian beer maker Molson recently announced it’s reducing the amount of free beer its employees can take home, and cutting retirees off completely, the Toronto Star reports.
Retirees are currently allotted six dozen free bottles a month. Starting Jan. 1, that amount will drop to one dozen. Five years later, it will be zero.
Current employees will see their free booze drop from 72 to 52 dozen bottles a year.
Sounds like just another sign of the difficult economy, but those affected haven’t taken the news quietly. Retirees organized a protest outside of the Molson brewery in St. John’s, Newfoundland, and the unions at other plants have filed grievances.
They claim they weren’t consulted when the change was made, in violation of their collective bargaining agreement.
There are 2,400 Molson retirees in Canada, and all that free beer reportedly costs the company $1 million annually.