CUB's Abbotsford plant makes some of the nation's best-selling beer brands, including Carlton Draught, Carlton Dry, VB, Crown Lager and Pure Blonde, as well as Mercury and Strongbow ciders. Thosands of workers rally in Melbourne's CBD to show their support for sacked CUB workers. Credit:Joe Armao But hundreds of employees still working at the Abbotsford brewery have raised the threat of costly strikes ahead of peak beer consumption periods of the AFL finals, Spring Racing Carnival and summer. Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary Steve Dargavel said CUB was once the "beer of working people, enjoyed at the game of working people". "But CUB has turned its back on its own workers and there is now a real risk that there will be a shortage of beer for the upcoming footy finals," he said.

Electrical Trades Union state secretary Troy Gray said the sacked brewery workers were "extremely heartened" by the rally's show of support. Credit:Joe Armao "That CUB, an iconic Australian workers' beer, can pull such un-Australian tactics against its own workers, has sent a shudder of fear and fury across the country," he said. "The support for the sacked CUB workers from the community is overwhelming. It speaks volumes about how the community feels about the bastard tactics being used by too many employers."

Wednesday's rally also marched on Parliament House, where it called on the Victorian and federal government to fix the labour hire industry to better protect Australian workers. A CUB spokeswoman said the brewery was still producing enough beer ahead of peak consumption periods. "We're still brewing beer at Abbotsford and have supplies of the amber liquid for footy finals and the warmer weather," she said. "If that changes we would of course let our customers and drinkers know." The 55 former maintenance workers lost their jobs after CUB axed a long-standing contract. The spokeswoman said the union movement's claims that CUB had sacked the workers were false.

"Anyone losing their job is not an issue to be taken lightly – that's why the former contractor and their people were given six months' notice of the end of the contract and people were paid redundancies by their employer," she said. Wages for the new contract positions advertised ranged from $70,000 to $120,000 before overtime, she said. "We believe this dispute is about unions wanting to enforce their power over an external company and the wages being offered." CUB has been seeking to reduce costs at the heavily unionised Abbotsford brewery to make it more competitive, saying the generous conditions negotiated over the decades "have resulted in what we see as an unsustainable situation". The brewery has undergone a decline in volumes in the past five years as more beer is produced at cheaper sites within CUB's network.