Saturday, May 28, 2016

Miller Brewing: Re-opening in one year

Note: The following story has been read more than 10,000 times.  It may needlessly outrage some of you who feel a need to be outraged at somebody about something.  That is unfortunate, but please don't label me as "irresponsible" because you don't like what we've reported.  This is exactly as it was told by an Eden City official.  I will not name the official or the place or circumstance where we were given the information.  If you don't like the story (I'm not sure why because it is somewhat hopeful), don't complain to me...contact the City of Eden.


We just attended a really nice Memorial Day weekend cookout in Eden.  Very nice...hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled chicken breasts, all kinds of sides.  Good food and beverage.  Nice, friendly people.

We knew practically no one at the party, but we did meet a highly placed Eden City official.  He told us production has completely halted at Miller Brewing.  No more beer is being made in Eden, NC.

Only a few maintenance workers remain to monitor the Eden plant.  According to the highly placed Eden City official, all production workers have been shipped off to the Atlanta area or the Shenandoah area.  He did not say, but we assume Shenandoah refers to northern Virginia.

Again, according to the highly placed Eden official, Miller plans to keep the Eden plant closed for about a year until its contract with the Teamsters Union runs out.  After the contract with the Teamsters expires, the plant will be re-opened and production will resume without union protection for its workers.

Asked why Miller Brewing would bother to re-open the Eden plant, if production was being made in Atlanta and Shenandoah,  the highly placed Eden city official said production in Atlanta and Shenandoah would not make up for the loss of Eden.  Miller would be short on beer production for a year while the Eden plant was closed.  The temporary shortage of beer will be well worth getting rid of the union in Eden.

The highly placed Eden City official told us this was the straight of it. 

He also told us he has a high school education.  He seemed like the smartest man we've ever met.  He seemed to know everything.  At least that's the way he sounded.



36 comments:

  1. Just long enough for them to shut out the union and hire lower salaried people or temps

    ReplyDelete
  2. Single-source innuendo and irresponsible reporting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is not irresponsible reporting. This is exactly what we were told by a highly placed Eden city official.

    ReplyDelete
  4. how about telling us who this HIGH PLACED Official is then? I've talked with a LOT of people in Eden and Ive not heard one thing about this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I understand your confusion, but Eden officials are pretty well informed on this issue.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I agree, this is very irresponsible. It's not even accurate, production is going on through September. Get your facts straight before spouting off nonsense.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Are you the same unknown as the previous unknown? Take your complaints to the City of Eden. They are responsible for the story. I put a lot of confidence in the City of Eden.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Is false stories good for business?? If not, maybe you could try getting accurate information from people in the plant still brewing beer!!! But, who wants to know what's really going on, right?? Not sure if the truth sells any more!! Keep telling your made up stories, with your picture that's not even the Eden brewery..you could at least get that right!! Good luck with your fairy tales because its certainly not news you are supposedly reporting !!!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I've actually heard something similar, from another source

    ReplyDelete
  10. I repeat: Take your complaints to the City of Eden. They are responsible for the story.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ricardo Montobon....as if that's YOUR real name...I am the First Unknown....and my name is Matthew Tuttle. of the Shilo Tuttles. I have no problem telling you that I could write a story like this...you seem so hell bent on defending this story however you keep referring us to the City of Eden...did you write this story or not? and if show...cite your source!! if you can't then it seems to be shoddy reporting....especially on a story as this. OH...and I will also call BS on any corporate person telling ANYONE that they are closing a plant for 1 year to get rid of the Union. Eden is a sad desperate town...it tears my heart out to see how far its fallen since my childhood, and to have "reporting" such as this seems to be simply irresponsible .

    ReplyDelete
  12. Shilo Tuttle person, What corporate person? I never mentioned a corporate person. I report what I am told. If I didn't write the story then who wrote it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, I was not aware that Eden is such a sad, desperate town. I should not report news when the town is sad and desperate.

      Delete
  13. Did he also mention that Pabst was the primary beer brewed under contract at the Eden Plant-Also Pabst is already suing Miller-Coors-AB for breach of contract. I believe maybe another beer Blatz that Pabst owns was made there. Pabst owns about 20 brands and is building or may have completed a showcase plant in Milwaukee, the investment people who own Pabst are committed to American production.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He did not mention that about PBR. But PBR, or any specific brand, was not what we were discussing. We were simply talking about Miller Brewing in Eden.

      Delete
  14. So glad u accredited ur source by stating "he also has a high school education; he sounded smart to me" haha wtf is this

    ReplyDelete
  15. I didn't "accredit" anyone. He volunteered the information.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Spreading rumors and innuendo, regardless of your so called "high ranking source" is extremely irresponsible. This is a big problem in this county, between you and Star news, it's nothing more than gossip mongering. Enjoy your ill-gotten 15 minutes of fame, while the majority of people in this county think your a complete idiot. After all this is people's lives and livelihoods you are so irresponsibly gossiping about. FYI a real journalist would check his source. The brewery is still brewing beer.

    ReplyDelete
  17. You sound very melodramatic. You've had your 30 seconds of fame. Tell me how this story has so affected your life and livelihood. What changes will you make in your life after reading this story?

    ReplyDelete
  18. Nothing in your made up story here is true but you have people in Rockingham County thinking the plant has already shut down and no longer brewing beer. That is false information and you published that without verifing the information. The workers have not been sent any where, a very few may have took a voluntary transfer but if you were smart enough to actually do a creditable story you would see that it's not even a plant in Atlanta, Albany maybe??? So you're the one looking really stupid right now!! You owe Rockingham County and the people still working in the plant brewing beer an apology and the truth! And stop hiding behind and blaming the city official for your fake news story..own up to your mistakes! You're quick to tell a story you know nothing about but can't seem to say the source of information??? Hmm...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What truth would you like to hear? Should I put words into the mouth of the Eden City official? Would you feel better if I made up something to please you?

      Delete
  19. Bottom line. You are spreading rumors and gossip mongering. There is no "truth" in that article. I guess if someone were to report that you are a child molester because a "high ranking official" told them that, it would be ok? Right? There is no difference between the above hypothetical situation and this situation. Gossip and speculation is gossip and speculation regardless of the topic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sir, child molestation is a crime. Miller Brewing is closing. It's sad, but not a crime. There is a huge difference. You know nothing about what I was told and by whom. You were not there. Bottom line is you are spreading rumor and gossip with your false accusations.

      Delete
  20. Unions have far outlived their usefulness. They did help in a time before workplace law existed; but now they are a breeding ground for entitlement

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I worked for the American Tobacco Company for many years. It was quite a shock to learn the union ran the plant, not management. Management decided what brands would be made and what machinery would be purchased. The union ran everything else. The union forced the company to share its profits with better wages and profit sharing. Management was mere window dressing for day-to-day operations. As part of "management", I was pretty much useless. It was humiliating being part of management, but overall the union was a good thing for the workers.

      Delete
  21. If you feel inclined to leave a comment about how irresponsible I am, what a lie all this is, or how all this is a rumor or gossip, I refer you to the note at the beginning of this article. Please re-read the note and let it sink in before spouting off. I will delete comments that ignore the note.

    ReplyDelete
  22. http://www.journalnow.com/business/business_news/local/millercoors-plans-first-eden-brewery-job-cuts-for-june/article_fe3d1f38-4a37-5a7c-bba9-032ba0ea56fc.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the information. And thank you for not being a dick about it.

      Delete
    2. Follow up from same source as above,If MillerCoors does not want to operate the facility, both Cooper and Teamster officials encouraged the company to find a buyer.
      Rockingham already has the highest unemployment rate of the 14 Triad and Northwest N.C. counties at 7.1 percent in July.
      When SABMiller Plc and Molson Coors Brewing Co. merged in 2007, the Eden plant had 639 employees. That was down from 739 in 2002.

      Delete
    3. Finding a buyer for Miller will not be easy. A brewery of that size will require a very significant investment. There will be few eligible candidates and Miller would prefer to protect its market from the competition. No small brewer making little batches of specialty beer can afford the cost of buying Eden's Miller plant. I can't imagine the plant would be of interest to anyone other than a brewer. There's a lot of very expensive brewing and bottling equipment in that place. Look up a list of the 50 top brewers and decide where you would draw the line for likely purchasers of the Eden operation.

      Go to:

      https://www.brewersassociation.org/press-releases/brewers-association-lists-top-50-breweries-2015/

      for the list of top brewers - craft and overall

      Delete
    4. It Been over a year The Eden brewery hasn't reopened so what's the deal I guess City officials don't know what their talking about

      Delete
    5. The Eden official told me in May, 2016 that the brewery was already closed and would re-open in one year after the union was out of business. It appears in December, 2017 that official's story was total bullshit. The brewery is long gone and will stay gone.

      Delete
  23. Yeah those city officials all they know how to do is like brewery is long gone and will probably never return

    ReplyDelete