Late 70s Labor Union Strike Boycott I Don't Drink Coors Protest Cause Pin

Description

OFFERED FOR SALE IS THIS
1 3/4 INCH CELLULOID PINBACK BUTTON
I
N WHAT I BELIEVE TO BE REALLY GREAT SHAPE.
HOWEVER, THAT IS JUST MY OPINION.  SEE PHOTOS FOR CONDITION, AND YOU BE THE JUDGE.   IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE BIDDING OR BUYING.
RETURNS ARE NOT ACCEPTED
UNLESS
THE ITEM IS NOT AS DESCRIBED OR SHOWN IN THE PHOTOS OR HAS SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE OR DEFECTS  NOT VISIBLE IN THE PHOTOS OR OTHERWISE DESCRIBED.
GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC AND ORIGINAL AS DESCRIBED
.
This pin was made and sold in the late 1970s to raise funds and support to fight Coors efforts to destroy the union at their beer facilities and to organize a consumer boycott of the beer.
It was the
longest-running a
nd one of the
most bitter labor-management disputes at the time
.
The pin reads:
I DON'T DRINK COORS
.
Labor problems at Coors
In
April 1977
, the brewery workers union at Coors, representing 1,472 employees, went on strike. The brewery kept operating with supervisors and 250 to 300 union members.  Soon after, Coors announced that it would hire replacements for the striking workers. Coors replaced 500 workers, keeping the beer production process uninterrupted, with workers opposed to the union (
scabs
).
In
December 1978
, Coors held an election in which its
new crop of scab workers
voted on union representation, and as expected by greater than a two-to-one ratio they
voted to decertify the union
,
ending 44 years of union representation
at Coors. Because the strike was by then more than a year old,
striking workers could not vote
in the election.
Labor unions organized a
consumer boycott to punish Coors
for its unfair labor practices.
Another tactic
employed by the unions was a
push for states to pass laws banning the sale of unpasteurized canned and bottled beer
. Because Coors was the only major brewer at the time not pasteurizing its canned and bottled beer, such laws would hurt only Coors.
Sales of Coors suffered during the
decade-long labor union boycott
, although Coors claimed that declining sales were also due to an industry-wide downturn in beer sales, and to increased competition.
The boycott and other union tactics paid off, and
the AFL-CIO ended its decades-old boycott of Coors in August 1987
.
It was the
longest-running and one of the most bitter labor-management disputes at the time.
The settlement was reached
after the company agreed to allow votes on union representation at Coors’ flagship brewery in Golden, Colo., as well as to other concessions.
This underground pinback button pin or badge relates to the Hippie (or Hippy) Counterculture Movement of the psychedelic Sixties (1960's) and Seventies (1970's).  That movement included such themes and topics as peace, protest, civil rights, radical, socialist, communist, anarchist, union labor strikes, drugs, marijuana, pot, weed, lsd, acid, sds, iww, anti draft, anti war, anti rotc, welfare rights, poverty, equal rights, integration, gay, women's rights, black panthers, black power, left wing, liberal, etc.  progressive political movement and is guaranteed to be genuine as described.
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NOT A BUSINESS
.  THIS AND MY OTHER ITEMS ON EBAY ARE FROM MY PERSONAL COLLECTIONS AND WERE NOT INITIALLY ACQUIRED BY ME FOR RESALE.  PROCEEDS GO TO BUY OTHER STUFF I AM INTERESTED IN COLLECTING.
I HAVE BEEN A LONG TIME MEMBER OF
A. P. I .C. (AMERICAN POLITICAL ITEMS COLLECTORS)
.  IF YOU ARE NOT A MEMBER, YOU SHOULD CONSIDER JOINING.
IT IS A GREAT ORGANIZATION!
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FIRST CLASS MAIL
.
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WITHIN THE UNITED STATES
IS
.50
I WILL
REDUCE SHIPPING CHARGES ON MULTIPLE ITEMS
.  HOWEVER,
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.  YOU CAN ALSO REQUEST ONE.   ONCE YOU HAVE PAID INDIVIDUAL SHIPPING CHARGES FOR MULTIPLE ITEMS, I CANNOT REFUND THEM IN PART OR IN FULL.
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.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST.