AB InBev to resume talks to end Belgian blockade

By IBTimes Staff Reporter | January 19 2010 10:02 AM

BRUSSELS - Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, said on Monday it would resume talks with trade unions on Tuesday to end a blockade at its Belgian breweries, aiming to resolve a dispute over job cuts.

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The group said on Friday it had won a court ruling to end a blockade at one of its large Belgian plants and unions responded that they would strike if it were enforced.

The Belgian workers have blocked the entrances to the company's large plants in Leuven and Jupille for over a week and at Hoegaarden since last Tuesday in protest at AB InBev's plan to cut a net 263 jobs out of its 2,700 Belgian workforce.

A spokesman for the socialist union, which represents over half the AB InBev employees in Belgium, said the group would participate in the mediated discussions but would not consider lifting the blockade until after the meeting and only if there are results.

The plan to lay off 300 people must disappear, and then at that moment we would like to start negotiations with the InBev management to see what the real problems are and how we can assist in finding solutions, the spokesman told Reuters.

The company has two other small production sites in Belgium.

Mediated talks to end the action ended without success late on Thursday.

The company's Belgian unit said on Friday it had secured a court order to end the blockade at Leuven, but preferred for the time being to solve the issue through talks. (Reporting by Antonia van de Velde and Ben Deighton, editing by Will Waterman)