Striking Jim Beam Workers Set to Vote on New Offer Friday

About 250 workers walked off jobs last Saturday at two Beam distilleries after voting down a contract offer.

Jim Beam Flickr 5808c485297a0

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Striking Jim Beam workers are set to vote on a new contract offer aimed at ending a nearly weeklong strike at two Kentucky distilleries.

United Food and Commercial Workers union official Tommy Ballard says the vote is scheduled for Friday. He says union leaders will present the new proposal to union members Thursday.

About 250 workers walked off jobs last Saturday at Beam distilleries in Clermont and Boston after voting down a contract offer. Their main complaint is not money but time — the union wants more full-time workers hired, rather than temporary employees. Ballard says the company is promising to hire more full-time workers in an effort to reduce overtime that has some workers putting in 60 to 80 hours a week.

The whiskey brand is owned by Suntory Holdings Ltd.

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