Anheuser-Busch job loss total in Fairfield officially tops 200 workers

FAIRFIELD — Anheuser-Busch has formally told state officials that more than 200 jobs will be erased by the shutdown of the iconic beermaker’s plant in Fairfield, a decision that emerges as the company consolidates production.

The brewing company has decided to eliminate 238 jobs at its plant at 3101 Busch Dr. in Fairfield, according to an official WARN notice filed with the state Employment Development Department.

“Anheuser-Busch Commercial Strategy intends to wind down and conclude operations at the Fairfield Brewery,” Jessica Crisp, the brewery’s general manager, wrote in the WARN letter the company sent to the California EDD. The decision came about after a “thorough review,” Crisp stated in the WARN notice.

The job cuts are scheduled to begin on Feb. 9, and the brewery will wind down operations over a two-week period that will end on Feb. 22, Anheuser-Busch stated.

All of the job cuts will be permanent, the company told the EDD.

“We will support the full-time employees currently working at the Fairfield facility by offering all of them a full-time role elsewhere in our U.S. operations,” the company stated in the WARN letter.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 896 represents some workers.

“For employees that choose not to accept the offer to transfer, we will provide severance packages and other resources,” the company said in the WARN notice.

Anheuser-Busch has struck a deal to sell a brewery in New Jersey. Besides the Fairfield plant, the company will also close a brewery in New Hampshire.

Production affected by the closures of the three plants will be shifted to other Anheuser-Busch manufacturing hubs elsewhere in the United States.

Anheuser-Busch embarked on the staffing reductions despite a wide-ranging endeavor to revamp its American factories.

“Over the last five years we have taken steps to update and modernize our U.S. manufacturing operations, investing nearly $2 billion in our 100 facilities across the country,” Crisp wrote in the WARN notice.