Switchyard Brewing Calls for Paid Family Leave
Bloomington, Indiana-headquartered Switchyard Brewing Company released an op-ed today in support of paid family leave for small businesses.
In the letter, Switchyard co-founder Kristin Cummings wrote that the company has strived to “offer better benefits and a better work-life balance” to its workforce.
“As small business owners we’ve seen firsthand how truly impactful these policies can be to our employees and their well-being,” Cummings wrote. “We’ve also experienced the opposite. Both myself and my husband/business partner have experienced the corporate side of these policies and the detriment they can cause.”
Cummings described the early arrival of her and her husband Kurtis’ adopted daughter four years ago, and the challenges the family faced as Kurtis, who worked for a local ambulance service at the time, had to get his shifts covered for several weeks.
“He couldn’t just call in and let his employer know that his leave was starting, he had to actually attempt to get others to cover his shifts or he’d be written up and potentially terminated,” she wrote. “This became even more complicated when our daughter was admitted to the NICU three days after her birth. Thankfully, he had amazing co-workers who not only pitched in and worked together to cover the shifts, but also donated their own hard-earned PTO in order to help us financially. But that was the people he worked with, not the organization he worked for. I think that’s the important message here.”
Cummings shared the challenges of making the benefits that the company provides, such as “paid leave, unlimited vacation to exempt coworkers, health benefits, and V-PTO (volunteer paid time off),” financially feasible.
“But the more research we did and the more we educated ourselves about providing these benefits, the more we realized that in the long run, retaining employees and creating a healthy work environment paid for itself,” she wrote. “It all feeds into our culture, which feeds into our company’s ecosystem.”
Cummings noted that low-wage earners are the least likely to have paid leave time — and the ones least able to afford to go without pay.
“Just 9% of private-sector workers in the lowest wage quartile have paid family leave benefits — even after the enactment in 2017 of tax credits intended to incentivize employers to offer paid leave,” she wrote. “Furthermore, just 19% of the workforce has paid family leave through their employers, and only 40% has paid medical leave through an employer-provided disability program.”
Cummings encouraged Indiana workers to reach out to their representatives to encourage them to vote in favor of the Biden Administration’s “Build Back Better” plan, which includes a policy for national paid family leave.
“Eight in 10 voters, across party lines, say they support paid leave policies,” she wrote. “Today, more than ever, we need our Indiana congressional representatives to know that Hoosiers and Hoosier small businesses are ready to take this step forward and are in favor of federal paid family leave.”
Brewers Association Board of Directors Election Begins
Voting has started for the Brewers Association’s (BA) board of directors election and ends November 17.
The board has five seats up this election cycle:
- two in the packaging brewer class, which includes breweries that sell 75% or more of their volume off their premises;
- two in the pub brewer class, which includes breweries that sell more than 25% of their beer onsite and offer food service;
- and one in the taproom brewer class, which includes breweries that sell more than 25% of their beer onsite but do not offer food service.
Packaging brewer candidates include:
- Tomme Arthur, Port Brewing and The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, California;
- Pamela Brulotte, Icicle Brewing, Leavenworth, Washington;
- Chris Cramer, Karl Strauss Brewing, San Diego, California;
- Garrett Marrero, Maui Brewing, Kihei, Hawaii (incumbent);
- Eric McKay, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, Richmond, Virginia;
- Michah Niebauer, Southern Pines Brewing, Southern Pines, North Carolina;
- Ken Wilson, Lumberyard Brewing, Flagstaff, Arizona.
Pub brewer candidates include:
- Leah Cheston, Right Proper Brewing, Washington, D.C. (incumbent);
- Jess Griego, Bosque Brewing, Albuquerque, New Mexico;
- Jason Lavery, Lavery Brewing, Erie, Pennsylvania;
- Frances Tuite, River St. Joe, Buchanan, Michigan.
Taproom brewer candidates include:
- Kat Ganser, Devil’s Creek Brewery, Collingswood, New Jersey;
- Larry Horwitz, Ten20 Craft Brewery, Louisville, Kentucky (incumbent);
- Holly Redding, Winchester Brew Works, Winchester, Virginia.
Elected directors will serve one three-year term, beginning February 2022. Directors are limited to three consecutive terms, after which they must resign from the board for one year before being considered again, according to BA bylaws.
Breweries who are voting members of the BA receive one ballot per company (not per brewing location) and may only vote in their designated class. Ballots are accepted online or by mail.
Port of Los Angeles Moves to 24-Hour Operations
The Port of Los Angeles has doubled its operating hours and is now functioning around the clock after agreeing to do so with the White House to keep supply chains moving, according to NPR.
The nearby Port of Long Beach moved to similar hours several weeks ago. Combined, the ports receive about 40% of the container traffic that enters the United States.
Tim Near, co-founder of brewing industry supply chain consulting firm Agrowgate, called it “amazing and, frankly, concerning that 40% of the country’s container traffic comes through such a tight bottleneck.”
West Coast ports aren’t of major concern for the beer industry, as most imported beer arrives from Europe via East Coast ports or by rail from Mexico. Container shipments from Asia to the West Coast bring aluminum coil, some cans and point-of-sale materials, Near said. Other imported goods breweries use — such as ingredients and pulp for paper — come from Europe, but the ramping up of operations at two major ports is a positive for the industry at large.
“Any improvement in the supply chain crisis helps through the full chain,” Near said. “Trucks are in short supply. If they are spending less time waiting at ports for pick-up, their yield can increase to increase transport freight.”
Additionally, the Biden Administration’s willingness to step in and remove other hurdles across the nation’s stressed supply chain “could be the first of several steps to help transportation and supply chain,” Near said.
Chicago’s Oak Park Brewing Closes After 5 Years
Oak Park Brewing has closed its doors after more than five years in operation in Chicago’s western suburbs.
“Due to a multitude of factors, including COVID (and the lack of resurgence in business despite the high vaccination rate in Oak Park), our recent kitchen fire, the lack of available workforce, etc. we have decided that the best course for us is to close,” craft brewery wrote in a Facebook post.
Oak Park was the first brewery to open in the town since it went dry in 1872, 49 years before Prohibition was enacted nationwide, according to the brewery’s website. The company produced 230 barrels of beer in 2020, according to the Brewers Association’s (BA) May/June 2021 edition of the New Brewer.
“We appreciate all that those of you who have been our faithful customers over these last few years have done for us,” the Facebook post continued. “We hope that those of you who (especially at first) came once while we were super busy when we opened and then never came again will give the other multitude of places that open in Oak Park more chances, because it is not easy opening a restaurant. We hope it gets easier for those who follow us.”
Oak Park Brewing’s last day in operation was October 17.
Wild Onion Shutters Oak Park, Illinois, Taproom
Lake Barrington, Illinois-based Wild Onion Brewery shuttered its taproom in Oak Park last week, about two weeks before its planned closing day of October 31.
“We’re really bummed we didn’t get these next weeks to say goodbye to all of you,” the company wrote on Instagram. “Tough ending with flooding, power outage and loss of our food. Thank you for bringing your awesome energy to our bar.”
Wild Onion Tied House opened four years ago in Oak Park, about 40 miles southeast of Lake Barrington, giving the brand a presence in the greater Chicago area. The brewery’s Lake Barrington taproom and banquet hall will remain open.
Wild Onion was founded in 1996, and the company distributes in Chicagoland, New Jersey and Missouri. Last year, Wild Onion produced 3,650 barrels of beer, according to the BA.
Dan Roth Departs Beer Institute
Dan Roth, who served as senior director public affairs for the Beer Institute for the last five years, is departing the trade organization to join the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA).
“Dan played a significant role in growing the Beer Institute’s public affairs department, raising the Beer Institute’s media profile, and launching our grassroots efforts,” Jim McGreevy, president and CEO of the BI, wrote in a note to BI members. “In 2019, under his leadership, the Beer Institute won first place in the ‘Governmental or Public Affairs Media Relations Campaign’ category of PR Daily’s Media Relations Awards for efforts to combat tariffs on aluminum and bring more transparency to the aluminum market.”
Roth’s last day with the BI is Friday, October 22.
NACHA “governs the thriving ACH Network, the payment system that drives safe, smart, and fast direct deposits and direct payments with the capability to reach all U.S. bank and credit union accounts,” according to its website.