Teamsters, Anheuser-Busch Agree There Will Be No Pickets
By Gregory Cancelada, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 600 has agreed it won't picket Anheuser-Busch Cos. facilities or engage in any illegal secondary boycotts against the country's largest brewer after A-B filed unfair labor practice charges against the union two weeks ago.

The settlement was approved Tuesday after the National Labor Relations Board found reasonable cause to believe Local 600 had violated labor law when union members picketed near A-B's brewery during the summer.

For the last five months, drivers represented by Teamsters Local 600 have been on strike against Lohr Distributing Co., A-B's exclusive wholesaler for the city of St. Louis. The strike doesn't include St. Louis County and other counties surrounding the city.

While the Teamsters can picket and take other actions against Lohr, the union can't conduct similar actions against A-B because the labor dispute doesn't involve the brewer.

A-B dropped its second charge filed against the Teamsters international union for a related allegation, said the NLRB, which enforces the federal labor law.

The NLRB continues to investigate A-B's charges that Local 600, the Teamsters international union and the Change to Win coalition violated the labor law in September when it required the Renaissance Grand hotel in St. Louis to refrain form serving A-B products for a period before and after a convention held by the coalition.