The wholesale distribution of beer, wine and liquor in Rhode Island long has been managed by multiple businesses. Now, a proposed acquisition of one family-owned company by another has alarmed the union representing shipping workers.
Teamsters Local 251 alleges that the acquisition of Cranston-based McLaughlin & Moran Inc. by West Greenwich-based Mancini Beverage will lead to a “near monopoly” on the distribution of beer to businesses, including liquor stores, restaurants and retailers.
The union has presented a petition with the names of several dozen business owners and managers, collectively dubbed “Rhode Islanders Against Liquor Monopolies,” to the R.I. Office of the Attorney General asking for it to investigate for anti-trust violations.
The Teamsters also want the R.I. Department of Business Regulation to delay any approval of the liquor license transfer. DBR has held a hearing on the Class B wholesale license transfer, but it has not acted on the proposal, according to an agency spokesman.
The attorney general’s office said it is reviewing the proposed transaction but could not comment further.
Matthew Taibi, Local 251 secretary treasurer and principal officer, said the acquisition of McLaughlin & Moran by Mancini raises issues for the workforce, as well as competition. The union represents most employees at Mancini Beverage, he said.
Taibi said wages and pension benefits of the merged workforce are a concern. He said Mancini did not want to recognize the existing collective bargaining agreement.
As for the monopoly argument, the proposed acquisition will give Mancini more power to set terms for shelf space and other aspects of retailing, Taibi said, because it will control delivery of most of the beer sold in Rhode Island. “It’s a majority of wine and probably 80% or more beer in Rhode Island that would be consolidated under one entity,” he said in an interview.
Mancini, a family of three companies that now distributes various brands of domestic and imported beer, wine, spirits and nonalcoholic beverages, disputes most of the Teamsters’ arguments.
The acquisition would allow it to distribute Budweiser, Busch and Michelob products, as well as a long line of craft beers produced in New England, which are now moved by McLaughlin & Moran, according to the portfolios on the companies’ websites.
Mancini already distributes Coors, Heineken, Guinness and other beer brands, as well as wines, including Yellow Tail, Rodney Strong Vineyards and spirits such as Absolut vodka.
The union is misrepresenting the nature of beer consumption and changing consumer attitudes toward once-dominant domestic labels, said William Fischer, a spokesman for Mancini. There is now a strong local craft beer market, and brew pubs, he said in a statement.
“The acquisition is … a byproduct of an ever-changing consumer market,” said Fischer, as a spokesman for Mancini. “Any claims of monopolies are unfounded, as the beer market in Rhode Island has been completely transformed in the last decade. As a proof point, the Anheuser-Busch portfolio of products (Bud Light, Budweiser) has lost 40% of its beer volume in the past 10 years.”
The McLaughlin & Moran employees will be offered a package that honors their “current wages, benefits and seniority,” Fischer said. He also noted the shipping employees at Mancini, who are represented by the union, recently approved a multiyear contract.
Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Macdonald@PBN.com.
