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Thursday, 28 October, 2004, 06:04 GMT 07:04 UK

Brewery staff protest in Brussels

Boddingtons Brewery, Manchester A group of workers from the Boddingtons brewery in Manchester are travelling to Belgium to meet trade union colleagues.

Owners Interbrew decided to shut the Strangeways brewery last month to reduce distribution costs.

The 10-strong group, from the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G) will meet members of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) in Brussels on Thursday.

Spokesman Franny Joyce said the meeting was another step in the "Save the Cream" campaign.

"This is another way in which we are showing that the brewery workers and the people of Manchester are not going to go away," he said.

"Interbrew are in denial about what we are saying so we'll be shouting it loud and clear to them. Profits are up, growth is up and efficiency is up. This is a profitable brewery."

Interbrew is planning to keep its cask ale production in Manchester after the closure - moving it to Hydes Brewery, Moss Side - but the majority of production work will be moving to Lancashire, Scotland and Wales.

Philip Malpass, of Interbrew's parent company InBev, said the closure was down to a trend of more people choosing to drink lager than ale.

The delegation will visit colleagues from the European Federation of Food Agriculture and Tourism trade union (EFFAT), before lobbying for support at InBev's major brewery in Leuven.

They will later visit the company's distribution depot at Armentières in France.




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Related to this story:
Unofficial strike at Boddingtons (14 Sep 04  |  Manchester )
Workers fighting brewery closure (13 Sep 04  |  Manchester )
Drinkers revive Boddingtons fight (10 Sep 04  |  Manchester )
Bitter end at Boddingtons brewery (09 Sep 04  |  Manchester )
Boddingtons to remain in Manchester (04 Nov 02  |  England )
Manchester fights to keep its cream (04 Nov 02  |  Business )

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
Should Boddingtons brewery close? Have your say
Boddingtons
Hydes Brewery
Interbrew
Transport and General Workers' Union
EFFAT
Campaign For Real Ale
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