Coors bribe can't break boycott

Scan page 2

An alliance of labor, Latino, Black, and gay forces are locked in struggle with the Adolph Coors Co., one of the most racist, reactionary, and anti-union corporations in America.

The Coors brewery has busted more than 15 unions in the last 20 years. They are also movers and shakers in the ultra-right wing of American politics. From the Heritage Foundation and the Committee for a Union Free Environment to the Moral Majority, Coors money and Coors family members are to be found.

In an interview with Socialist Action, Howard Wallace, Northern California coordinator of the Coors Boycott Committee, described the battle being waged against the Coors dynasty, and Coors' desperate efforts to fight back.

According to Wallace, the AFL-CIO called for a boycott of Coors in 1978, when the Brewery Workers union was ousted from the plant after a 20month strike. Many boycotts have been called by organized labor but few have been successful.

This time it was different. Not only union members, but Latinos, Blacks, and gays have long been outraged by Coors' history of racist hiring practices and support to anti-gay bigots. Coors still maintains pre-employment lie-detector tests, though they have finally stopped asking questions about the prospects' sex preferences. They continue to carefully screen employees for their union sympathies.

As Coors' reputation spread, workers found it easy to pass up their scab beer when so many other brands are available. In 1977 Coors had nearly 45 percent of the California market. Their current share has plunged to a low 15.8 percent. With most of their market confined to the West, the sales drop in California represents a serious loss.

Arrogance of wealth

Coors fought back with the weapon it had most faith in—money. With the arrogance of wealth, it decided it could buy out the opposition. In October 1984 Peter Coors announced that the company would donate $325 million to the Latino community for scholarships and grants. The money would be doled out as sales of Coors beer increased in the barrios. This proposition would put Latino organizations into a position of pimping for Coors.

While a few national Latino leaders signed the agreement, a larger number of them repudiated their action. The boycott would go on, they said.

Coors was no more successful in November 1984, when it offered $12,000 to the San Francisco Tavern Guild if it would put Coors beer back in 200 gay bars and restaurants. Faced with evidence that Coors money was still funding anti-gay groups, the community rejected the crude bribe with a resounding "no."

A foray into the Black community has come to utter disaster for Coors. At a seminar for minority businessmen in Denver on Feb. 23, 1984, William Coors, chairman of the company, was unable to repress his racist views for even a couple of hours.

According to The Rocky Mountain News, Coors blurted out to the Black businessmen: "One of the best things they did for you was to drag your ancestors here in chains."

He was also quoted as saying that Black-ruled African nations are going down the tubes because Blacks "lack the intellectual capacity to succeed."

Frantic efforts by Coors' public relations agents to repair the damage have not increased Coors' dismal sales in the Black community. However, Coors signed an agreement with Operation Push and the NAACP in November 1984, promising many millions of dollars to the Black community if it would end the boycott and buy Coors beer. Some Black leaders have been seduced by promises of big money, but most have not, and workers in the street are not buying the scab beer.

Turned to courts

When Coors saw that his brand of friendly persuasion was not ending the boycott, he turned to the federal courts for help. Here again he was foiled. Coors sued Howard Wallace and David Sickler, national coordinator of the Boycott Committee, under the Sherman Antitrust Law.

In May 1981 the Boycott Committee had successfully urged TV station KQED in San Francisco to cancel Coors' sponsorship of a fund-raising day for the non-profit station. The brewery offered $13,000 if it could display Coors logos all over the set during a Coors-Day telethon. After the plea of the Boycott Committee, KQED canceled Coors' sponsorship and returned the money.

Coors wanted $145,000 damages from Wallace and Stickler. Instead Coors got a decision from FedEditor: ALAN BENJAMIN Assistant Editors: NANCY GRUBER MICHAEL SCHREIBER Business Manager: GEORGE McCARRELL Circulation Manager: RALPH FORSYTH Editorial Board: Alan Benjamin, Les Evans, Dianne Feeley, Jeff Mackler, Nat Weinstein Staff: Paul Colvin, Larry Cooperman, May May Gong, Millie Gonzalez, Mark Harris, David Kirschner, Hayden Perry, Linda Ray, Joe Ryan, Kwame M.A. Somburu, Marion Syrek, Sylvia Weinstein Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly for $6 per year by Socialist Action Publishing Association, 3435 Army St., No. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110. Second-class postage is paid at San Francisco, Calif POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Socialist Action, 3435 Army St., No. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110.

Rates: 3 issues for $1.00; 12 issues for $6.00; Canada and Mexico $12.50; $30.00 airmail for all other countries;

$14.00 surface mail for all other countries.

Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials.

eral Judge Spencer Williams on Feb. 17, 1984, declaring the boycott legal. Coors' claim to antitrust protection was "far-fetched" the judge declared. Coors has appealed this decision and filed a similar suit in California's courts. The grounds for this suit are even flimsier, according to Wallace.

Coors has won one round in court, however. Last December in Birmingham, Ala., it won a judgment for $10,000 against a civil-rights group, the Movement Against Racism and the Klan (MARK). Coors won the judgment by default in a pre-trial hearing.

So the boycott continues. Asked what it would take to end the boycott, Wallace replied, "Get rid of the lie detector tests, declare your neutrality in organizing efforts, give workers the right to join unions, and cease and desist bankrolling ultra-right organizations."

The boycott is hurting Coors in the pocketbook, but even greater pressure will be needed to get it to the bargaining table. The Boycott Committee is prepared to continue the boycott indefinitely. Its main effort today is to spread the word of the struggle, especially in the East, where Coors is trying to break into new markets.

Coors produces beer under its own name. It also produces Herman Joseph 1868, Golden Lager, and George Killians Irish Red Ale. No worker should drink any of these.