By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The Teamsters union has reached a tentative five-year agreement with Anheuser-Busch for about 75-hundred brewery workers, including about 900 in St. Louis.
The workers still need to approve the contract, which provides yearly raises and continues free health insurance. If the deal is approved, bottlers, distillers, truck drivers, and mechanics would get immediate pay hikes even though their current contract doesn't expire until next year.
The new proposal includes raises of $0.65 an hour the first year and a $1,000 bonus if they approve the contract by December 1.
Raises in the following three years would be $0.60 cents per hour, with $0.55 cents per hour in the final year.
The average brewery worker earns about $49,000 a year in base pay, not counting overtime pay.