Another round of voting produced the same results in a labour dispute for the company behind Jim Beam whiskey, as workers at two Kentucky distilleries rejected a revised contract offer Friday and have hit the picket lanes.
More than 200 workers walked off their jobs after rejecting the latest contract offer. On Saturday, passing motorists honked in support of workers holding picket signs outside Beam's plant in Clermont.
Bill Ball, a 47-year Beam employee, hopes the dispute is settled quickly, but says striking workers are prepared to stay off their jobs "for the long haul'' if necessary. Strikers say staffing shortages force them to work long hours of overtime to keep up with demand for Beam whiskey.
The company said Friday contingency plans will keep operations running to maintain the flow of whiskey to distributors and consumers.
The classic American whiskey brand is owned by Suntory Holdings Ltd., a Japanese beverage company.
Based on inventories and plans to keep the distilleries operating, the company does not anticipate shortages of Jim Beam bourbon or other whiskeys made at the plants.
Kentucky is home to about 95 per cent of the world's bourbon production, and both the bourbon and whiskey industries are enjoying growing sales worldwide, in part driven by higher demand for premium spirits and cocktails. The resurgence had brought an era of smooth relations between management and labour in Kentucky's whiskey sector.
Kentucky's $3 billion bourbon industry generated about 15,400 jobs with an annual payroll of $707 million, according to a 2014 report released by the Kentucky Distillers' Association.
Last year, the state's bourbon production swelled to a nearly 50-year high, with Bluegrass State distilleries filling nearly 1.9 million bourbon barrels, the highest number since 1967, and 44 per cent above the pace in 2014, it said.