A glass bottling company, pummeled by Bud Light's promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, reportedly is closing plants in Louisiana and North Carolina, laying off some 645 workers.
The Ardagh Group, a global glass producer that has a contract with Anheuser-Busch, said closures will affect nearly 400 people at its plant in Wilson, North Carolina, which will close in mid-July, and 245 employees at a plant in Ruston, Louisiana, WRAL reported. The cuts in Wilson began in May.
The closures were announced in a statement in late June that didn't specify a reason, calling them part of a "multi-year performance optimization program," the news outlet reported.
"Since April, we've had a couple of machines down," machine repair mechanic James Munhall told WRAL. "It was, of course, being pointed toward the Bud Light situation. ... Personally, I don't believe this is all a Bud Light thing, I believe it's the industry itself."
According to an internal Ardagh Group memo obtained by WRAL, executives said they planned to shut down the two plants "due to slow sales with Anheuser-InBev." Longtime employees told the outlet they weren't surprised, since a large part of their business at those plants was producing bottles for Budweiser and Bud Light.
"'Because of Budweiser no longer selling the bottle, they no longer needed our product," David Williams, a machine repair mechanic, told WRAL.
Industry data shows Bud Light's sales fell 24% during May after a nationwide boycott over the brand's partnership with a transgender influencer, WRAL reported.
In a February earnings call before the Bud Light controversy, Ardagh's CEO said fourth-quarter earnings in Europe and Africa were up 110% compared to the year before, while North America saw a 9% drop in shipments and falling revenue. The CEO said Ardagh would be closing some plants in the near future.
"Following completion of the turnaround program, we will operate a lower number of furnaces than at present," said CEO Paul Coulson said, according to WRAL. "However these furnaces will on average be larger in scale and more efficient."
Employees at the Wilson plant say their union is negotiating a severance package, but for many, prospects appear grim.
"They're descendants of the family that's also worked in the industry," Munhall said. "Not only are you killing an employee's job, you're killing his family, his chances at sending his kids to college."
Mulvaney recently ripped the controversy against Bud Light, claiming it prompted more bullying and "more transphobia than I could've ever imagined." Mulvaney also blasted the company for not being supportive as Mulvaney dealt with the "transphobia."
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