United Kingdom: The fight for the threatened Boddingtons brewery has taken a further twist with workers voting for more strike action following complaints of intimidatory behaviour towards staff. The Transport & General Workers Union (T&G), which has teamed up with the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), to stave off closure of the brewery in Strangeways, Manchester, confirmed there will be a four-day strike, starting on November 22. Brewery workers took part in a three-day walkout last week, Quantum Business Media revealed on November 18.

The T&G union has also organized a leaflet campaign to lobby supermarkets including Morrisons and Asda to get them to stop stocking Boddingtons. CAMRA has confirmed that it will be officially supporting this campaign.

Interbrew announced in September that it would be closing the Strangeways brewery in February 2005 because it could no longer justify brewing non-keg ales there. The strike action comes after complaints that allegations of abusive and intimidatory behaviour towards brewery staff have not been properly investigated.

Franny Joyce, regional organiser for T&G and spokesman for the brewery, asked: “How can it have been a proper and fair investigation if no-one who made the allegations was interviewed?”

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