At most places, drinking at work would result in immediate termination. But at this place, it was an everyday activity — until recently.
A few hundred angry warehouse workers and drivers at Carlsberg, a Danish brewing company, recently stopped working to protest the company’s recent decision to curb employees’ on-the-job beer drinking. The new policy limits beer drinking to lunch breaks.
Carlsberg Spokesman Jens Bekke said the brewery removed beers from all of its refrigerators and added, “The only place you can get a beer in future is in the canteen, at lunch.”
According to Bekke, drivers and warehouse workers had been entitled to three beers per day — outside of lunch.
Despite its liberal stance toward on-the-job drinking, you won’t find Carlsberg drivers careening around Danish roads in a drunken stupor.
The brewery’s trucks reportedly have alcohol locks to prevent drivers from drinking too much and hitting the road.
The Confederation of Danish Industry and trade union 3F have agreed to look into the dispute.