Belgium brewery workers battle lockouts

A spokesman for the Confederation of Christian Trade Unions said: "Management started using lockouts in Louvain, Jupille and Hoegaarden on Wednesday morning.

"They kicked employees out into the streets and put chains on the gates."

The closures follow two weeks of blockades by trade unionists at the three AB InBev breweries in protest at bosses' plans to slash up to 303 jobs in Belgium.

As well as the attacks on jobs in Belgium, 386 employees face the chop in Germany and 42 in the Netherlands, which would scale back the firm's European workforce by 10 per cent.

Industrial action has yet to spread outside Belgium to other European breweries.

As the company and unions planned a third round of mediation talks amid the blockades and lockouts, shops across Belgium reported that their supplies of popular AB InBev brands such as Stella Artois, Leffe and Beck's were running low.

At a Delhaize supermarket close to the AB InBev headquarters, assistant director Chris Sallaerts said: "Our central depot cannot deliver any more."

AB InBev spokeswoman Karen Couck said that walls of beer crates erected at the company's three main plants in Belgium since January 7 had prevented the company from bringing raw materials, empty bottles and packaging goods into the plants.

"Also, the storage facilities are full of beer that cannot be shipped out," Ms Couck told the VRT radio network.

Unions insist that bosses must scrap the cuts plan, pointing out that it was announced immediately after the company posted profits of £960 million in the third quarter of last year.

Roger Van Vlasselaer, who heads the Flemish Brabant section of the socialist General Federation of Belgian Labour, said: "This is the ugly face of capitalism. AB InBev are just thinking of their bottom line for shareholders, regardless of the social cost.

"There is no reason at all to fire people," Mr Vlasselaer observed.

On January 15 bosses won a court ruling to end the blockade, but unions have warned that they will kick off a full strike if the ruling is enforced.