With the Real Golden on our side: 1977 Coors Strike and National Boycott The Coors Company has a history that dates back to over one hundred years ago when the brewery budded in Golden and created thousands of jobs for people all throughout Colorado. Golden is sometimes referred to as a company town because Coors built a distinct network of businesses and factories that were all connected to the production, transportation, and selling of Coors beer. During the 1950s, problems arose between Coors brewery workers and upper management. The tensions between workers and management dominated the next thirty years as Coors faced two workers strikes that each lasted about a year and one national boycott that lasted ten years. The central issues of the dispute between Coors and the Coors employees who went on strike in 1977 had to do with unsuccessful wage battles left over from a strike in 19572 ‘There were various charges against Coors regarding unfair labor practices, hiring and promotion policy, and racial bigotry. Coors demanded complete control over the conditions in the workplace and unquestioning loyalty from employees, but these conditions required acertain amount of violation, In addition to unsuccessful wage battles from the 1957 strike, the Coors workers went on strike in 1977 because they claimed that the Coors Company discriminated against Chicanos, Blacks, homosexuals, and women. Coors demanded the right to physical search and seizure, physical examinations upon demand by ‘Thomas Noel, Colorado Givers: A History of Philanthropic Heroes (Denver: Colorado University Press, 1998), 52. * Russ Banham, Coors: Rocky Mountain Legend (Lyme, Connecticut, Greenwich Publishing Group, Inc, 1998), aCoors-employed doctors, 43 reasons for immediate discharge, and multiple required lie detector tests3 In April 1977 the Brewery Workers Union at Coors in Golden (Local 366 or Local), which represented 1,172 employees, went on strike. By the end of May Coors announced that it would hire replacements for the striking workers. After hearing this announcement, about 700 workers quit the picket line to go back to work and Coors replaced the remaining 500 workers to keep the beer production process uninterrupted. The strike in 1977 lasted a little over a year while the proceeding national boycott lasted ten years. In March of 1978, the workers at Coors voted by greater than a two to one ratio to decertify the Local which ended 44 years of union representation at Coors. When the local strike in 1977 supported by the Local 366 in Golden grew into a national boycott, more individuals and groups accused Coors of crimes unrelated to labor. Many groups outside of the Golden community charged that Coors was harmful to the environment, and there was heated protest against the right-wing organizations the Coors family funded such as the Heritage Foundation. Nevertheless, there was immense loyalty to Coors in the Golden community due to the long history of the brewery providing jobs and contributing funds to hospitals, churches, schools, roads, parks, and even throwing Christmas parties and donating gifts to soldiers overseas. ‘The consumer boycott in 1977 made a lot of noise, but Coors was just too big of a company with too much community support in Golden to ever be harmed very seriously. 3 Thomas Noel, Colorado Givers: A History of Philanthropic Heroes (Denver: Colorado University Press, 1998), 54,Regardless of the strike and boycott, Coors continued to expand and profit Golden workers in general were divided in supporting Coors and being against Coors. Further, Coors workers themselves were divided because some supported the strike and boycott while others were against it and remained loyal to the Coors Company. In the end, the Coors Company has persisted to grow, and although many original demands from the strikers were met eventually, the union that the strikers were a part of was removed. The Local in Golden dissolved because of a disorganized and ununified front (in the local community and in the brewery itself) against Coors policy during the strike and boycott in 1977. Historiography Hardy Green summarizes the roots of a company town and the various positive and negative affects that the system can have on a community. In The Company Town Green describes how company towns are “exploitationvilles.” He discusses the immense loyalty that often occurs in these towns by those who reap the highest benefits of the given company. He also writes that many companies become communities that are used to minimize costs at the expense of the workers. He explains how the company towns profit by wage setting with workers who do not have the option to seek other employment of competing companies given that the entire community is connected to the single company. When there is no competition and workers are desperate for an income it is easy exploit, Green explains ‘Greg Francis, Golden Colorado (Golden Pioneer Museum: Arcadia, 1998), 58. * Mardy Green, The Company Town (Cambridge: University Press 1993), 8In Nelson Lichtenstein’s State of the Union Lichtenstein asks the “labor question” which has been a burning issue since the Progressive era because it’s solution seemed essential to the survival of modern American business itself. The labor question is, summarized as a basic problem of allocating labor (services) and goods. Beginning at the turn of the twentieth-century, Lichtenstein provides a chronology of labor disputes up through the 1960s and 70s. He claimed that the labor movements had heart but were disorganized because there were too many demands made at once, Lichtenstein concludes that the failures of many labor movements in the 60s and 70s were a result of disorganization. In his later chapters he demonstrates how the groups that were the most successful had one goal in mind instead of “injustice in general’ as Lichtenstein says.6 Both Green and Lichtenstein make excellent points by highlighting the importance of organization and unification. The Coors strike was weakened when Coors threatened the picketing union workers that they would quickly be replaced by people who were happy to make any wage at all. Green talks about these kinds of scenarios when there are limited options when it comes to places one can sell his or her labor. The Coors strikers represented the union at the brewery and believed they were speaking for not only all Coors workers, but also all Golden workers. The strikers finally either lost their jobs permanently or returned to work. The union that these strikers represented was eventually voted to be decertified by fellow workers at Coors. Narrative Adolph Kuhrs, the founder of the Coors Brewing Company, was born February 4, 1847 in a small town in Germany just south of Holland, In 1862 tuberculosis took both of © Nelson Lichtenstein, State of the Union, (Berkeley: University of California Press), 25-56.his parents’ lives. Now orphaned, Adolph and his younger siblings Helene and William were taken in by a Catholic children’s home in their village.” When Adolph was twenty-one he was drafted into the Prussian army and, like so many recruits, he decided to come to America to escape military duty. Shortly after his arrival he headed west and adopted the last name Coors. In 1872 Coors landed in Denver and he soon relocated to Clear Creek for mit 1g work, With railroads expanding west a new frontier beckoned, and Coors settled in the small mining town of Golden to open a brewery in 18732 1873 was a bad time to open a business. The recent grasshopper plague in the Colorado territory ruined crops and the failure of several banks resulted in railroad enterprises abandoning construction due to their recent inability to take out any loans. In and around Denver there were fewer than 60,000 people and six breweries.° Unlike other breweries in the region, Coors wanted to control all aspects of production. Coors had a philosophy of self-reliance, and he made sure that his company controlled as many manufacturing variables as pos le. This complete control of land, labor, and capital allowed Coors to prosp. independently while other breweries were much more affected by outside economic circumstances. Because the brewery was located near several mining camps, the market for beer was favorable. As mining provided an unsteady income, numerous workers turned to Coors for a steady pay check. Business rapidiy grew, and the demand in Denver for the Golden 7 Russ Banham, Coors: A Rocky Mountain Legend (Lyme, Connecticut, Greenwich Publishing Group, Inc, 1998), 12, ® Dan Baum, Citizen Coors: A Grand Family Saga of Business, Politics, and Beer (New York: HarperCollins, 2000), 175. ® Russ Banham, Coors: A Rocky Mountain Legend (Lyme, Connecticut, Greenwich Publishing Group, Inc, 1998), 18.Lager, as Coors’ beer was called, increased quickly.” It appeared that everyone in Golden was winning; Coors stimulated the economy and provided jobs in all aspects of production including bottling work, construction, testing, fermentation, cleaning of kegs, transportation of beer, farming of barley and hops, and all other variables. The success of the Coors Company resulted in the previously small Golden brewery to be simply referred to as ‘The Company’ in Colorado. ‘The Company became a family empire. Adolph eventually married and had six children; his eldest and therefore his heir was named Adolph Junior. The young Adolph inherited the Coors Company in 1929 when his father died after falling from a Florida hotel window at age 72. Whether the fall was an accident or a suicide was unclear and remains controversial. With the death of Adolph Coors, Adolph Jr. took over operations and by 1940, expanded the market to ten western states." ‘The Company developed into a beer industry legend and a great job creator in the Golden community. A broad spectrum of Coors affiliates combined to create a vertically integrated company giving previously unemployed Golden residents a new livelihood Coors put Golden on the map and the community was proud of the rags to riches immigrant tale of Adolph Senior. He had the personae of a family man, a hard working immigrant, a simple man who drank beer and believed in pulling oneself up from his bootstraps, and most importantly a voice for the working class. Several newspaper reports dating from the 1920's show the deep admiration of Golden workers towards Coors for keeping their town 19Russ Banham, Coors: A Rocky Mountain Legend (Lyme, Connecticut, Greenwich Publishing Group, Inc, 1998), 26. 48 Thomas Noel, Colorado Givers: A History of Philanthropic Herves (Denver: Colorado University Press, 1998), 48,working. During Prohibition Adolph Senior said “I will have to find another way to keep business running smoothly; here at Coors we have a personal obligation to Golden to keep its citizens employed."!? Adolph kept his promise. In August 1914, Coors began selling malted milk to Colorado towns where alcohol was banned. The old fermentation department at the brewery was retrofitted to accommodate the new malted milk project. All brewing machinery was removed, and the Company employed milk testers at $65 a month, New machinery arrived in 1917 and the plant was now operating day and night, thanks to the malted milk success. Because so many workers from all branches of the network of Coors production relied on the steady paychecks Coors provided, the Company prevented what could have been a great recession in the region.‘ Luckily, Adolph was able to keep business open and keep Golden citizens working, which only strengthened the bond between the community and the Company. Once Prohibition was repealed, business was even better than before the initial conversion from beer to malted milk. The Company expanded further and Coors invested profits in new equipment and facilities, including an additional cleaning house for washing kegs, a new bottling house, and thousands of new barrels. The Coors Transportation Company provided refrigerated trucks to haul the beer to its distribution center as well as vehicles to transport coal to fuel the Golden Brewery. Coors Energy Company bought and sold energy to local bars, and the Coors Container Manufacturing plant produced aluminum 1 Greg Francis, Golden Colorado (Golden Pioneer Museum: Arcadia, 1998), 51 +5 Russ Banham, Coors: A Rocky Mountain Legend (Lyme, Connecticut, Greenwich Publishing Group, Inc, 1998), 12and glass containers for the beer. ‘The Golden Recycle Company was also funded by Coors and was responsible for ensuring a supply of raw materials for aluminum can production in Golden and surrounding towns.!¢ The job market in Golden expanded even further with so many new plants for specialization in manufacture, energy, and recycle. Not only were there more jobs, but also profits were reinvested into the community. ‘The Company built several parks and roads in Golden. Coors also donated to local schools and churches and, in addition, funded the American Center for Occupational Health. People who lived in Golden were in some way connected to Coors whether they realized it or not, and more immigrants with ambitions to open up business were finding Golden to be a desirable destination. During the 1930s and 40s Coors was known to throw annual Christmas parties and send gifts to American soldiers in Europe, and the Company was also well known for sponsoring several semi-professional sports teams in and around the community. Several small family-owned pubs opened up and Coors readily stocked their shelves creating a distinct community out of the formerly insignificant mining town. People from Denver were now coming to Golden for that authentic Coors-on-tap taste. Traffic between the cities also created more jobs in the transportation industry.15 In 1934 the Local Brewers Union in Golden (Local or Local 366) was recognized by Coors as the “Bargaining Representative for Production and Maintenance Employees” in the brewery, and for sixteen years the Local operated largely under Company influence. The Local was an affiliate of the umbrella brewers union called the International Brewers ¥ Dan Baum, Citizen Coors: A Grand Family Saga of Business, Politics, and Beer (New York: HarperCollins, 2000), 98, + Greg Francis, Golden Colorado (Golden Pioneer Museum: Arcadia, 1998), 51 * Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Demacratic Pluralism (Boston: South End Press, 1989), 18,Union (IBWU). In 1955 the Local began organizing a strike because they believed they were not being paid enough, they had no sick leave, and they were generally treated unfairly by the upper-management of Coors. The Local began calling the Coors Company a racist institution. In 1956 the Local voted to ask the IBWU for permission to take a secret ballot strike vote on grounds of unfair working conditions and racial discrimination.17 In response to floating rumors ofa potential strike, William Coors called for a meeting of workers in the plant and read a memo to all employees that served as a warning that the Company would continue to operate the brewery in the event of a strike. Workers who failed to show up to work would be immediately replaced.” The Local did not back down because of this threat, and on September 16, 1957 the Local recruited additional employees of Coors to picket and discourage workers trying to get through the strike line to reach the Coors gates. During the 1957 strike, William Coors made several statements expressing how he felt the IBWU was dominated by a radical element and that the Local in Golden showed itself to be lawless and irresponsible. Ina lengthy strike settlement agreement, the Company agreed to return all striking employees to their jobs except 120 members whose jobs had been already filled.'? The strike had officially ended in January of 1958, but was resurrected when in 1966 the Colorado Gl Forum began receiving frequent complaints that the Coors Brewing Company was Official Statement: Brewery, Bottling, Can and Allied Industrial Union- Local No. 366, “The Coors Strike" James B. Silverthorn (President) Kenneth Debey (Business Representative). Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 39, 18 Memo from William K. Coors to all employees, July 14, 1956. Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 44. 2 Agreement handbook between Adolph Coors Company Golden, Colorado and Brewery, Botting, can and Allied Industrial Union, Local 366 & AFL-CIO. Effective June 18, 1974 to Dec. 31, 1958, Section 27- Strikes, Lockouts, and Boycotts. Pg 55. Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Falder 41,10 discriminating against, specifically, Chicanos and Blacks in their hiring and promotion practices.29 This racial issue came up again more powerfully in an even bigger strike accompanied by a national boycott in 1977. After the Second World War, tensions began slowly building between the workers at Coors and management conceming wages. The Company went through Prohibition, both world wars, and was entering the civil rights era. Many ideological differences also surfaced between the workers and the Company during the 1960s and 70s. Coors struggled to retrieve the image of the job-creator and voice of the working class, but it had become a corporate giant instead. Minorities and college student organizations like CalPIRG began speaking up and organizing against corporate abuse, news outlets were becoming more accessible to working people, and ‘working-class America collectively developed a more liberal idea concerning what was owed to them by their employers. The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (APL-CIO) is an organization that helps join together various unions so they can bargain collectively with their employers for better working conditions”! On April 12, 1977 the Local went on strike again because conditions had not improved, and the AFL-CIO called for a nationwide boycott of Coors beer in support from IBWU and the Local sector in Golden. The local strike was strongly motivated by economic issues as well as civil rights issu Because the local strike and national boycott were supported by the AFL-CIO, civil rights disputes were more heavily emphasized in 1977 than they were in 1957. The AFL- C10 campaign lumped the local strike into a larger category of social injustice movements in order to pick up the momentum of other groups of working people fighting in some way ® The Coors: A family Brew. 1997 A&E Telivision network. Biography DVD. ShopBiography.com /dvdlibrary.against the exploitation from corporate giants. Several bumper-stickers, pamphlets, and buttons were circulating that linked several civil rights groups together with images of two hands shaking with different organizations printed on each arm. There were quite a few anti-corporate flyers some of which were published in Golden, and all produced by the AFL-C10.22 During the strike and boycott, Coors began seeking elimination of the Local in Golden because the local strike was becoming a national symbol that was hurting the sale of Coors beer all across the country. As this intention was publicized, Coors hurt its own reputation and began to be frequently referred to as a ‘unionbuster’ by workers in Golden who were a part of or supported the Local union. Within a couple of weeks, in response to the fear of losing their positions as union members, many strikers returned to work. Although numerous strikers went back to work, they could not return to their work because the Company already hired hundreds of nonunion workers or ‘scabs’ to continue operations. ‘The local protest became a symbol when it expanded to a consumer boycott, and now the movement focused on matters far beyond the original contract dispute that began in 1976. Although the initial dispute touched on racism and sexism as a reason for striking, in the earliest Official Union Statement from 1976 there was much more of an emphasis on wages, benefits, working hours, search and seizures, physical examinations, and polygraphs. As the strike expanded, the AFL-CIO and other supporters of the boycott Media products of the AFL-CIO including many bumper-stickers, pamphlets, flyers, and buttons. Timm Flores Papers, Box 5, Folder 48. 2 Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism (Boston: South End Press, 1989), 66.12 highlighted mainly the polygraph and the mistreatment of minorities so that the Coors strike could ride on the media-outlet coat tails of other minority groups who had been mistreated too.24 ‘Throughout the 1970s problems continued to worsen, and some workers left the picket line while others joined it. William Coors told the Los Angeles Times in 1987 that the Company suffered from “...the most harmful boycotts that had ever been attempted by organized labor.”25 Coors once had a reputation of helping small business and giving back. to the community of Golden. The face of Coors had, however, changed into something very different. When Coors faced the 1977 workers strike and proceeding boycott the city of Golden became divided. Workers at Coors and even outside in the Golden community were torn between the Company and the Local Union, and both institutions believed they spoke for the working class. The problem is there arc too many kinds of ‘working class.’ Ina personal letter to the Local headquarters in Golden, an anonymous conscientious objector to the strike wrote: If1 don’t like my job or it’s working conditions I get a different one. I suggest you all do the same and stop complaining. Your striking and boycott is hurting shareholders and taking money out of Golden. You are hurting business here for those of us willing to work instead of expecting a handout. Workers at Coors make a fine wage in comparison to other jobs in Golden, and if you want a raise then you can just work harder. ™ Media products of the AFL-CIO including many bumper-stickers, pamphiles, flyers, and buttons. Tim Flores Papers, Box 5, Folder 48 2% Los Angeles Times, “10- Year Coors Boycott Ends as Unions Win Concessions". August 19, 1987, 6. Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 38, 2 Personal letter signed as ‘Concerned Golden Citizen’ to the Local headquarters in Golden, October 1977. Coors Strike and Support Papers. Box 1, Folder 1113 At the end of the statement, this anonymous commentator is referring to Coors being accused of racist hiring processes. On May 18, 1977 the Denver Post reported that William Coors was charged with calling the picketing strikers “monkeys,” and by April 5, fourteen hundred members of Local 366 walked out on strike.’ A reporter from the Rocky ‘Mountain News wrote that many strikers came to the picket carrying bananas while harassing any nonunion workers coming in to replace them.* The Local designed a new contract that demanded seniority rights and paid sick leave, as well as elimination of forced physical examinations and the polygraphs. The Company dabbled in negotiations for over three months before the Local voted to officially strike. Ultimately, the strike and boycott galvanized organized labor as well as minority interest groups that protested in defense of Chicanos, Blacks, homosexuals, and women. The same month that William Coors was charged with calling the strikers monkeys, Coors appeared in the U.S. District Court in response to a separate matter of charges filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), The EEOC accused the Company of intentionally engaging in unlawful hiring, firing, compensation, and working condition practices since 1955. Despite these serious charges, four months went by and towards the end of September 1977 the brewery was still operating at about 70% capacity.29 The Company imported out of state armed guards to protect their property and the private homes of the Coors family. Coors employee Dwight Sickler said “The issue is not ¥ Denver Post. “William Coors calls his workers Monkeys". May 29, 1977. 16A, Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 42, ® Rocky Mountain News. “Outraged blacks say Coors insulted their entire race". May 27, 1977. Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 42. 2 Coors Hoycott Factsheet, Massachusetts AFL-CIO, 1982. Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 46,14 wages, the issue is civil rights” William Coors, president of the Company, responded “you have a constitutional right not to work at Coors.” In an article from the Mi Tierra Special Report in 1980 the Gl Forum explains: Long before the Coors Boycott began being a symbol of the struggle against injustice; long before national coverage encouraged other civil rights organizations to join the American G.1 Forum's Coors Boycott, we the GI Forum worked within our organization...to expose the racist and sexist attitude of the Adolph Coors’s Company. ‘The GI Forum further displays the importance of labor to organize against the mammoth multi-million dollar corporations that take advantage of their workers, Antonio Morales, national chairman of the American GI Forum stated that “The American G.I Forum will continue the Boycott until we are fully satisfied that the EEOC complaint has run its full course,”32 ‘The Company demanded the right to discharge an employee for making disparaging remarks about the employer, the employer's products, or any words that could discourage any person from drinking Coors beer. In an article from 1976 published in Mi Tierra Special Report a newsperson stated, “..when you go to work for Coors there are certain things which you are required to give up, like your right to freedom of speech.”** The Company % Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism (Boston: South End Press, 1989), $3. ™ No author or signature on the document, Coors Factsheet, Massachusetts AFL-CIO, 1978, Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 46. % Mi Tierra Special Report. Letter from American GI Forum representative Antonio Morales to Paul Gonzales, Chairman: Boycott Committee the Adolph Coors Company . June 1980. Timn Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 40. 8 Mi Tierra Special Report. Official Colorado Gl Forum Publication. February 1976, Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 41.continued to attack basic trade union rights which had been taken for granted since they were won by workers’ struggles in the 1930s. In 1979 the California Public Interest Research Group (CalPIRG) student organization put forth a preliminary report about Coors. The students wrote, “The Coors Company's abusive treatment of prospective, present, and past employees is a violation of their basic human rights and indicates that the Coors Company does not sincerely care about the people that work for them.” CalPIRG believed that consumers had the responsibility to choose a product not only on the basis of its material quality, but also on the basis of the human quality with which it was produced. The CalPIRG report further states“ ..we must, as future members of the workforce, be concerned about the inhumane and disgusting working conditions of the Adolph Coors Company.” The AFL-CIO supported boycott came as a direct response to the local strike in Golden, according to CalPIRG, was primarily about racial discrimination. Co-Executive Joe Coors had been charged by the Federal Government with unfair labor practices and blatant discr (nation against Blacks, homosexuals, Chicanos and women. He had fought bilingual education and had supported anti-ERA and anti-Gay Rights campaigns. He was also an ardent supporter of the war in Vietnam35 In a 1978 Preliminary Fact Sheet, minorities working at Coors “...know how completely unwanted they are there. ‘They are harassed and insulted by supervisors with the blessings of the Company.’26 % CalPIRG's Preliminary Report on THE COORS BEER BOYCOTT prepared April, 4, 1979, Box 5, Folder 43, 85 Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism (Boston: South End Press, 1989), 43. 36 No author or signature on the document. Coors Factsheet, Massachusetts AFL-CIO. 1978, Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 46.16 According to a 1967 Official Local Union Statement, the white majority police force in Denver was “using strong-arm methods to keep minorities contained within the ghettos.”*7 The Coors family aided the presence of police by donating a helicopter to the police department. Local activists assumed that the helicopter was aimed to be used for intrusive surveillance of the Chicano community. Activists also claimed that Coors sought to abolish Chicano and Black studies programs at the University of Colorado when Joe Coors was installed as a regent in 1966. The Coors family had a history of racist practices and support for organizations that maintained racist ideas. During the 1964 Civil Rights Act debate in Congress, William Coors called the brewery workforce together to encourage them to oppose the passage of the bill. He told them that sixty white employees would be replaced by African Americas if the bill was passed, and therefore the bill needed to be stopped.>" In 1970 the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had also found Coors guilty of racial discrimination for firing a Black employee unlawfully, Booker T. Mays was only the second Black employee at Coors. He told the Civil Rights Commission that he had been a victim of racial harassment at work, and after an extensive and public trial the commission ordered Coors to give Mays his job back with full pays? ‘The Company practiced restrictive hiring policies to such an extent that fifteen years after the Mays case, the EEOC publically charged that the Company had intentionally 57 Eroston of Workers Rights: Brewery Workers #366 and the Adolph Coors Company, August 1976. Official Union Statement. Tim Flores Papers, Box 5, Folder 38, 59 Herbert M. Gallegos, "COORS—Police State Tactics vs Human Rights?” Tim Flores Papers. Box 5,39. ® Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism (Boston: South End Press, 1989), 22.17 engaged in discriminatory practices in 1975 when they refused to hire a homosexual man. The Company was also accused of treating women poorly and there was rumored to be many cases of sexual harassment and abuse. Questions about homosexuality were on the polygraph tests, so homosexuals were not welcome at Coors. In response to treatment of women and homosexuals, several gay-rights and feminist groups launched campaigns to support the boycott and their claimed “striking comrades.” #9 ‘The Coors family aided a network of conservative and far-right organizations including those that allegedly sought to turn back civil rights, destroy trade unions, and promote racial bigotry and homophobia. One of the leading organization was the Coors founded The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing lobby whose mission is to promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, and a strong national defense. The workers who went on strike at Coors were generally against all of this funding for the Vietnam War. Coors also funded the King Ministry, which was dedicated to saving homosexuals from their sinful lifestyles. Similarly, the Company funded the Concerned Citizens, which was a California group pressing for reinstatement of criminal penalties for homosexuals.41 As the boycott gained more support and as more workers went on strike, sales dropped and Coors faced numerous lawsuits. The strike officially lasted a little over a year; unofficially it lasted much longer as the Company continued to suffer from negative representation in the press. Rocky Mountain News, "EEOC charges Coors with Discriminatory Labor Practices” February 19, 1975, Sb. Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 42. © Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism (Boston: South End Press, 1989), 72.18 With low wages, search and seizure, racism and sexism aside; foremost of the human dignity issues was Coors' use of the lie detectors when investigating or hiring, employees. In the early sixties, the Company started using the polygraph test as a mandatory condition for hiring, In addition, Coors could require any employee to take a polygraph test in connection with investigations under the following circumstance: If there was reason to believe that there had been: (1) sabotage of the employers property of product (2) willful destruction or misappropriation of the property of the employer or other employees (3) gross negligence.*? These were the first three reasons; there were forty more. According to Coors policy, the polygraph could be employed and justified if the employer simply stated that he had reason to believe there could be disloyalty to the Company. In 1979 some of the questions appearing on the polygraph test were as follows: “Do you know of any reason that you could be blackmailed? Are you a homosexual? Are you a Communist? Have you ever cheated on your wife? Have you ever participated in any sit in, demonstration, or strike? Do you have any secret bank accounts? Have you ever tried marijuana? Is there any reason that someone might want to blackmail you? and the list, goes on,”#3 Inan interview with Rocky Mountain News Joe Coors explained that the “only questions relevant to the job are asked on the polygraph test. Job applicants are not asked questions about sexual background or preference.” However, with the newspaper clipping “The Coors Mandatory Polygraph Test", AFL-CIO News February 18, 1978. Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 48, * 1979 Polygraph Questionnaire, Coors Industries, (1-2028. Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 43.19 of the interview and the official polygraph questionnaire set side by side and only published a year apart from each other and the results are contradicting to Joe Coors’ statement. Coors employee Oliver Desmarais commented in a sworn affidavit on the search and seizure practices and the forced physical examination he was subjected to after he failed a polygraph test: “I feel that these questions were degrading and an invasion of my privacy, and the physical examinations are for nothing but to show power and degrade us. [also feel these questions are unnecessary for the Coors Company to ask anyone seeking a job with them.’ Coors executives claimed that they were unaware of the exact questions that were on the tests because they were prepared by an outside polygraph company. William Coors told AFL-CIO News that the tests helped reveal "..whether the applicant may be hiding some health problem” and ensure that “the applicant does not want the job for some subversive reason such as sabotaging our operation.”*® In addition to labor and civil rights disputes of all kinds, Coors was also in trouble because of the company’s treatment of the environment. Coors decided to fight against the environmental concerns that were increasing in the 1960's and 1970's, and the Company proceeded to challenge environmental regulations in court, For the manufacture of beer, thousands of acres were used to grow barley and hops. This was good for creating jobs in Golden, but apparently bad for the environment in the unnecessary exhaustion of soil, and tons of waste was discarded improperly. The Company's view on the environment was as predicted with roughly any resources necessary for a right wing company. The “Oliver Desmarais’ sworn affidavit of September 26, 1977. Coors Strike and Support Papers, Box 1, Folder 8 "The Coors Mandatory Polygraph Test”. AFL-C1O News. February 18, 1978, Tim Flores Papers. Box S, Folder 48,20 environment was fair game according to Coors, and government regulations on production should not interfere with laissez-faire economics. The anti-environmentalist character of Coors was also reflected in the organizations that Coors funded that generally lacked concern for the environment. Ironically, one could also say that Coors was a leader in the environmental movernent. In 1959 William Coors hired engineers to create a recyclable aluminum can for Coors’ products. The Company also began a program called Cash for Cans, offering one penny for each can and two pennies for a glass bottle when returned for recycling, By 1966 the Company was honored by the Good Outdoor Manners Association for environmental stewardship, having collected over 13 million cans in the previous year. In the Cash for Cans campaign Coors was being environmentally responsible while also creating more jobs in Golden at the recycling plant. Coors manufactured and disposed of the product in an ecologically conscious way. Perhaps any agrarian work necessitates a certain amount of alteration and possible damage to the natural environment, and maybe the Company was being treated unfairly in this particular claim. In an interview from 60 Minutes, Joe Coors explains how “we were painted to be whatever they wanted us to be, sometimes we were accused of being pro-war, against the war, pro-choice, pro-life, it all depended on what whatever group was trying to a ccomplish.”*7 Clearly this is a gross exaggeration, but it wouldn't be completely false to say that organizations painted a certain type of image of that could be more easily criticized. #6 Russ Banham, Coors: A Rocky Mountain Legend (Lyme, Connecticut, Greenwich Publishing Group, Inc, 1998), 89. "60 Minutes Slips in the Suds” p.4, Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 38.21 Coors’ Cash for Cans program has continuously upped the price it will pay for aluminum containers. It now pays fifty cents for each can or bottle turned in to Coors recycling centers. This particular collection of pictures that came from an 1879 issue of Aluminews showed several family shots of children holding checks with the recycle symbol somewhere in the background, checks they of course received from turning in their used aluminum cans.*® As bu: “nesses and individuals continued omitting Coors beer from their establishments and households, the strikers angered certain members of the Golden community who still saw Coors as the job-creating Company that had a long history of giving back to the community. This loyalty was not only rooted in the several institutions that have reaped the benefits of Coors donations, but also the roots held of the American dream and the philosophy of pulling yourself up from your bootstraps and climbing the social ladder. Another Golden citizen who objected to the strike and boycott anonymously wrot Ifyou want to change the path of the Company's investments go buy shares in bulk and go to the shareholders meetings instead of dumping your money into an organization that feeds and aids those standing in the middle of the street on picket, jamming traffic. When those of us willing to work for a living suffer because of other people's laziness we need to stand together and stop this picket because real Golden doesn’t stand behind it. Every position from the IBWU, the Local, the Company, the minority groups, to the small business owners in Golden all believed they knew what the ‘real Golden’ stood for. “Volume 9 no. 1 Published by Coors industry. Aluminews, The Earth: Preservation through Recycling, February 1977. Coors Strike and Support. Box 1, Folder 10,22 In 1984 the strike was over but the boycott had continued. During an L.A Press Conference in 1984 William Coors stated “We stand on record. We have some of the finest minority hiring and training programs, minority marketing programs, minority community affairs programs and minority vendor programs of any brewer in the country.” He then discussed how the Company had always guarded the rights for free and equal ‘opportunities for all employees regardless of race. “That right of freedom and equality was established by my grandfather.” Coors affirmed, and “..most especially I want to assure you that every person at Adolph Coors Company has the opportunity to succeed.""? The Coors family was working hard to change the image portrayed by the Local and International Brewers Union that had the support of the AFL-CIO and others. In response to this growing negative reputation, some observers believe that Jeffrey and Peter Coors had moderated the politics of the Coors Empire because Coors now financially supports some women’s, civil rights, and gay and lesbian groups. I believe, these donations and advertising dollars represented a pragmatic investment oriented response to the consumer boycott of the Coors products, not necessarily a rejection of the core beliefs held by the Coors family.5 ‘An agreement between Coors and the AFL-CIO finally was reached in 1987, ten years after the strike and boycott. The local strike officially lasted a little over a year; unofficially it lasted much longer as the Company continued to suffer from bad press regarding its treatment of minorities, investments into far right wing organizations, polygraphs, the environment, as well as the breakup of the Local Brewers Union 366 in 4 Statement Issued by William K. Coors in Response to L.A Press Conference. March 2, 1984. Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 43. 5° Russ Bellant, The Coors Connection: How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism (Boston: South End Press, 1989), 79.23 Golden. These allegations ultimately remain controversial, and Coors was vindicated in 1982 when 60 Minutes interviewed Coors executives and employees. Coors received a rare favorable report from 60 Minutes and the judgment that it had been the victim of a smear campaign by the AFL-CI0.5! Whether 60 Minutes was completely truthful in the report is highly controversial. Many working people in Golden showed allegiance with Coors and credited the Company to the success of their small businesses. Several bars in old-town Golden are proud to say that their roots came from the Company's generosity in donations and from the high demand sales made of authentic Coors beer.*? The boycott also decreased the funding Coors made to the hospitals in Golden which was another reason for working people in Golden to be against the strike and boycott. On one hand the strike was about fair labor practices and civil rights, but behind the scenes it reduced funding for a local hospital and hurt small business. Whether the reduction of funding for hospitals and schools was. made to seem more drastic by Coors than it actually was is likely. Coors had a long standing history with the local businesses, so the strike ripped the city in two and ultimately that decentralization caused this to be a battle with no winner. ‘The Company was not only responsible for creating thousands of jobs in Golden, but also throughout the western region as the brewery expanded. Many Golden working class citizens resented the strike since they took pride in the brewery. Coors was seen by many as truly the roots of the entire town and fairly representing of real Golden workers. Coors was a symbol of pride and Coors was a symbol of oppression, and conflicting symbols 5060 Mi es Slips in the Suds" p.4, Tim Flores Papers. Box 5, Folder 38. 5? Greg Francis, Golden Colorado (Golden Pioneer Museum: Arcadia, 1998), 49.24 reached a stalemate in Golden which weakened the strike and boycott in 1977, Until, eventually the Local crumbled and the Company flourished. To this day, however, many still stand in protest against Coors and their policies. The ending of the story faded out rather than concluded. The strike did not serve as a catalyst for a lasting movement against privacy issues in the work place, The Local did not survive, and many strikers lost their jobs permanently.5 Today, the continuously growing Company shreds plastic from its brewing barrels for use in garden and lawn applications, and it sells leftover barley malt as animal feed to local farmers. The Company also outlawed the polygraph tests and the unlawful search and seizures, Recently, the Company reduced the diameter of aluminum can ends and saved nearly 622 tons of aluminum in six months.*# Itis impossible to pinpoint the motive of these changes, so it is arguable to say that the strike was successful because ultimately the demands were met. I also reasonable to say the strike was a failure simply because Coors still stands strong and the Local has been disassembled because Coors’ workers as a whole voted it to be. 3 The Coors: A family Brew. 1997 A&E Telivision network. Biography DVD. ShopBiography.com/dvdlibrary, 5¢ Greg Francis, Golden Colorado (Golden Pioneer Museum: Arcadia, 1998), 39.