agree that 9th floor being torn up is a bold statement by new management.
there were millions of dollars invested in the 9th floor, and from what I hear is that it will all be trashed.
It is very sad to view

they are putting a lot of people on floor 9, like marketing. and they will be at horse shoe shaped tables with one phone. No offices.

On Thursday, all IT employees and contractors received an e-mail informing us that we are not to report to work on Monday. The employees all received e-mails yesterday with times to come in on Monday and meet with management to learn their fate. As for the contractors, we are just to sit at home and wait for a call from our respective staffing company informing us whether we still have a job to report back to on Tuesday. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to report to work on Friday under these circumstances? Everyone in my department has already packed up their desks. We have pretty much been told that we will be moving downtown if we’re lucky enough to still have jobs, because the Sunset Hills campus will be abandoned and the new owners will attempt to sublease the four buildings until their contract expires.

Friends and family are trying to soothe me with pearls of wisdom on how this is happening to everyone these days. I tell them the difference is that I work for a strong company. I work for a company that just posted the best quarterly sales in many years. The only reason I’m about to lose my job is because a bunch of arrogant foreigners purchased a company they couldn’t afford by leveraging themselves to the hilt. They view our white collar emloyees as having been irreparably permeated by a culture of waste and don’t feel that we are worth a second look. We were told by our senior management after they met with the new CIO from InBev Canada that he was not a huge proponent of outsourcing and that he wanted to look at each department in IT and determine its value before making any sweeping decisions. How has three weeks possibly been enough time to determine our value? It seems that we have been deceived by one lie after another since this whole process began back in May. Now it ends with this unconscionable firing of more than 1800 people a week before Christmas.

In closing, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that the P-D’s coverage of this crisis has barely mentioned the 415 contractors who are about to lose our jobs. Sure, this is very sad for the employees. But most of the employees will receive nice severance packages that include a year of paid medical. Contractors will be lucky to get two weeks of pay, and we work every bit as hard as the employees and depend on our jobs every bit as much.

I too am disappointed with the local media coverage of this debacle. They are just broadcasting InBev’s spin that 1400 or just 6% of the employees are being let go. Add the 450 contractors, the 1000+ people who took the ERP packages and we are talking about 3000 people. There were only about 6000 employees in St. Louis. The bottom line is that roughly 40% of the St. Louis Corporate Offices are going in this first wave.

I am hoping to be let go this coming week and this is becoming a consensus in my department. The severance packages will not get better with the next round and I firmly believe they will try to make those of us left so miserable we will look for work elswhere. It is much cheaper to make us quit than lay us off. I do feel bad for the contractors who will not get the severance cushion, as well as all of the employees that did not reap much financial benefit from the buyout. Employees that had stock options and restricted stock have a further cash cushion.

To all of those saying that A-B deserved this because it was mismanaged and wasted money spoiling its workers, etc., you are so wrong. There was certainly some waste at A-B, as there is at most large companies. However, A-B was a company that treated its employees well, not because it had to, but because it was the right thing to do. It fostered employee loyalty and made for one of the lowest turnover rates in corporate America. Doing things the A-B way meant meant going beyond what is required and always striving to do everything better than its competitors. Despite what some would call waste, A-B managed to generate good profits, pay its shareholders a decent dividend and hold onto almost 50% of the U.S. beer market. You think that’s easy. In reality, most of A-B’s lagers don’t taste much different that Miller, Coors and dozens of other beers that used to compete with A-B. A-B was simply way better at manufacturing, distributing and marketing its products. Why do you think InBev wanted A-B so badly? InBev has not grown any of its brands. It is a relatively new company that has simply gobbled up established breweries and brands. It is so leveraged that it is going to have to sell prized assets (that actually make money) at fire sale prices in the worst economy since the Great Depression. You call this sound management.

Anyway, people in many other industries are being laid off, so no one should feel any worse for A-B workers than others. However, know this: I am losing more than just a job. I am losing THE JOB I always wanted, the one I truly enjoyed doing, the one I would never think of leaving, the one I hoped to retire from. These are sad days for what’s left of A-B and for all of St. Louis.

It is a somber time. My building is next to engineering and we could see people coming and going all day. Most of us have packed up our personal belongings waiting for Monday too. Nothing like having to drive to work in an ice storm to find out you are fired.

I was told by someone who was let go in Engineering that it takes about an hour. You get your papers, talk to somebody from the outplacement company, then talk to someone from EAP. Handover all badges and credit cards. If you have any money left on your beer card, spend it this weekend, because they ask for it back.

It’s sad because this was a profitable company that provided good paying jobs. You were proud to be an AB employee. We worked hard for those good paying jobs too. Was there fat? Sure. Blue Ocean would have taken care of most of that. Too bad it wasn’t take more seriously sooner. We had heard about it for a couple of years.

Has anyone heard if Michelob Brewing has been sold? That is one of the latest rumors going around.

As an AB wholesaler I place the total blame for this on August Busch III, who never created the “poison pill,” which would have prevented this takeover in the first place, then nixed at least two last minute deals that would have accomplished same. He was doing the same bad decision-making that got Gussie’s office keys taken from him…ironically, by the IIIrd.

Was there waste at AB? Who is kidding whom? The Busch family ran a Fortune 50 company as if it were their personal fiefdom: one of the largest corporate jet/helicopter fleets in America; lavish, unjustifiable trade spending (particularly August IV), extended wild parties at Lake of the Ozarks…any bloggers out there who can add to this?

My family has been associated with AB over 50 years. We feel this all to be too sad. But change is inevitable. And it was time for AB to change. Too bad it could not have been done from within.

We are hearing the cuts at the other breweries will occur as early as next week. About 30-40 salaried at each brewery on average. Also, look for union layoffs early next year. The current in the shop is eliminate 10% total in the first quarter. Cutbacks include lowering quality standards, discontinuing some brands, and many projects aimed at cost saving. Sounds like Inbev really is stripping AB down to nothing. If any taxes go up look out- breweries will be closed, but maybe Inbev wants that to happen.

I just had my best friend lose her job and I am so sick over this whole thing. I still have mine and wish I could trade spots with her. This is just the first round of cuts so if you think you are safe think again. INBEV is just using you to get things done and then you will be gone. Finance will be gone after the books are closed … AP will be gone … Procurement will be gone … so like I said if you think you are safe you are not. They are going to cut another 1500 people after the first of the year, closer to the end of first quarter. So if you don’t have your resume ready to go you had better get it ready…heck you had better start looking now!

please tell me how unions will be touched??? They just signed a five year contract. So everyone needs to get their facts straight before they post, such as horseshoe table and one phone. Find a sandbox to play in people. These are real lives, real people in a horrid economy. Most of these folks are just like you, hard working middle class. Not the uppercrust of this company making a crazy salary.
These folks have been living with this stress for 8 months now. The ultimate was media release first, then having to work while being surrounded by hundreds of moving boxes and THEN you get to wait all weekend to hear your fate.

Another question…..where are 1500 MORE people from STL going to come from? If you do the math, that will only leave the union to run the entire operation. There were less that 6000 employees in STL. Over 2000 layed off (empty positions, layed off, contractors ) plus over 1300 ERP, plus ANOTHER 1500? Lets not blow things out of wack here when NO FACTS have been given.

Good luck to all!!

I don’t really see any cuts coming in the union. Brewing, Beer Packaging & Shipping has been cut over the past 10 years through extensive modernization here in St. Louis and the other breweries as well. No one in the union was offered ERP due to this fact. On a side note I’m glad to hear other peoples input from other breweries…not just here in STL. Keep that Rolling Rock running NEWARKBUD!!