Workers Strike: Work Beer Drinking Limited

Okay. This might not be the most ordinary scenario in the world, but it has happened at the Danish brewery Carlsberg. Hundreds of workers halted their work efforts Thursday, April 8, 2010, for a second day in protest to an April 1 decision to limit beer drinking during lunch breaks.

Ranked as the world’s No. 4 brewer, Carlsberg management decided to introduce new rules for employees on beer drinking, according to its spokesperson Jens Bekke.

"There has been free beer, water and soft drinks everywhere," Bekke said. "Yesterday, beers were removed from all refrigerators. The only place you can get a beer in future is in the canteen, at lunch."

According to Bekke, the new company policy allows drivers and warehouse workers to retain an old right to three beers per day outside lunch hours.

"Because of that, the warehouse staff went on strike yesterday, with other staff striking in sympathy," he said.

A warehouse staff of some 800 walked out on Wednesday. Two hundred and fifty remained on strike on Thursday, and the government’s Confederation of Danish Industry and trade union 3F had agreed to look into the dispute.

The strike has caused cancellation of deliveries from Copenhagen on Thursday, and delays in the rest of the country, although Bekke did not anticipate the financial effect of the strike to be minor.

On a side note, Bekke admitted that Carlsberg's trucks have added alcohol locks so drivers would not be able to drink too much and drive.