NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
April 30, 2017
Not long after they went on strike, Teamsters Local 812 workers at beer distributor Clare Rose got letters from their Long Island employer telling them they were going to be permanently replaced.
The letter, dated April 25, also included the phone number for the National Right to Work Defense Fund and instructions on how to quit the union, according to a copy obtained by the Daily News.
More than 100 Budweiser delivery truck drivers walked off the job April 24 to protest Clare Rose’s proposed pension and wage cuts.
“Striking employees who have been permanently replaced will not automatically have the right to displace permanent replacement workers,” the letter said.
Strikers who came back to work would only have a job if “a position is available,” the letter added.
Signed by company president Sean Rose and vice president Lisa Rose — the grandchildren of the Clare Rose founder — the letter also came with a step-by-step guide on how to leave Teamsters Local 812.
“The choice ... is yours alone to make and the company is not encouraging or suggesting that you do so,” the letter stressed in an underlined sentence.
Clare Rose also began bringing in out of state drivers to fill delivery orders.
None of the Local 812 workers crossed the picket line — but they did have a chance to quiz some of the replacement workers brought in, one of them from Florida.
“It’s all about money. I got kids to feed too,” the worker said in a video posted on Facebook.
“In Florida, we don’t believe in pickets,” he added, when the Local 812 strikers pressured him about crossing the line.
Clare Rose worker Billy Schildt started at the beer wholesaler when he was 13 years old, sweeping floors.
“It’s sickening to me to watch this company that I gave my heart and soul to let other workers from out of state take our jobs,” Schildt, 54, said.
As a boy, Schildt worked alongside the company founder Clare Rose and his wife Mildred — and in later years he worked with their sons Mark and Rick Rose.
“Clare Rose was a great guy, he taught me a lot and he gave me a lot of courage as a young man,” said Schildt. “His sons are gentlemen, very nice to work for, very family-oriented. Such nice people.”
Mark and Rick Rose retired years ago — but Rick Rose visited the company Thursday to try and talk to the workers, said Schildt.
“He shook all our hands and I know Rick Rose a long time and it was a genuine handshake,” said Schildt.
Rose and some of the older workers had a brief meeting at a nearby hotel, Schildt said. But no progress was made, he added.
“We returned to our posts, and kept picketing,” Schildt said.
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