Worldwide beer producer AB InBev is to cut 151 jobs in Bremen. The cuts are mainly to affect positions in logistics (30) and bottling (70). The affected site brews beer for the company’s brands Beck’s and Haake-Beck.
The initiative follows the offshoring of production and increasing labor costs in the past years.

The company aims to avoid forced redundancies. Worker representatives have shown themselves surprised by the measures. To date, a concrete timeframe for the restructuring has not been elaborated. AB InBev operates in 24 countries, employing 150,000 staff worldwide. The site in Bremen employed about 1,400 workers so far (out of a total of 2,800 in Germany).

Updated, 01-04-2014: As reported, AB InBev management and union NGG reached an agreement according to which no forced redundancies will be carried out until 31 December 2017. Job redundancies are to be realised by natural attrition, voluntary leaves and early retirement options.