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DK: Carlsberg workers go on strike after bosses tell staff they can only drink at lunchtime
Copenhagen, 6 April 2011. At the same time as the EU Alcohol and Health Forum gathered in Brussels to discuss alcohol in the work place, up to 800 hundred Carlsberg workers went on strike in protest over the company's decision to allow beer drinking only at lunchtime.
Since the Danish brewer was founded in 1847, workers have been allowed to drink as many beers as they wanted during the day. Jens Bekke, a spokesman for Carlsberg, said: 'There has been free beer, water and soft drinks everywhere”.
On the first of April, Carlsberg (the world's fourth-biggest brewer ) tightened its laid-back rules on workplace drinking, removed beer coolers from work sites and allowed workers to drink beer only during their 30-minute lunch break at the canteen.
Because of that, the warehouse staff went on strike, with other staff striking in sympathy. Carlsberg's truck drivers joined the strike even though they retained an old right to bring three beers from the canteen because they often don't have time to have lunch there. The trucks have alcohol ignition locks preventing the drivers from driving drunk.
Eurocare welcomes the decision by Carlsberg to go for a stricter drinking policy however by allowing its workers to drink beer at work during the lunch breaks it is still putting their health and safety at risk.
Alcohol has a range of psycho-motor and cognitive effects that increase accident risk on reaction times, cognitive processing, coordination, vigilance, vision and hearing. The effects of alcohol impairment have been shown to begin at low blood alcohol levels.
Alcohol has been shown to be a frequent factor in accidental injury in the home, on the roads, in workplaces and during leisure-time activities, and to be a cause of falls, collisions, fires and drownings.
According to the International Labour Organisation “in many workplaces, 20 to 25 per cent of accidents at work involve intoxicated people injuring themselves and innocent victims”.
Eurocare believes a complete ban on alcohol at the workplace is therefore the best policy.
http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/carlsbergarbetare-strejkar-for-sina-dagliga-ol_4534877.svd