On Monday, an organizer from Teamsters Local 322 walked into the taproom at Stone Brewing Company’s state-of-the-art taproom in Richmond, Va. with a letter addressed to the boss. The boss wasn’t in, and a manager on the floor refused to accept the proffered paper. So instead, the Teamster staffer read it aloud.
“Please accept this as Teamsters Local 322’s (“Union”) Request for Sapporo-Stone Brewing to recognize the Union as the exclusive collective bargaining representative of Stone Brewing’s employees located at its 4300 Williamsburg Avenue, Richmond, Virginia 23231 facility,” said Dwayne Johnson, the local’s recording secretary & director of organizing. “Well over a majority of the employees in the defined bargaining unit have requested that the Union represent them in collective bargaining for improved terms and conditions of employment.” He left the document on the bar, then left the building.
The union drive at Stone, a West Coast juggernaut that was acquired by the Japanese multinational Sapporo Holdings in 2022, is a big deal within the context of those two companies. I reported on those stakes earlier this week, breaking the news of the drive here at VinePair. After unceremoniously shuttering Anchor Brewing Company last summer, Sapporo (which had bought Anchor in 2017; workers there unionized in 2019), pivoted its domestic ambitions to Stone’s East Coast facility, pouring $40 million into upgrades last year to make it as the stateside source for Sapporo Premium. The Richmond plant is a key linchpin to Sapporo’s expansion in this country.
After launching the Richmond
