Big bourbon producer Heaven Hill faces strike in Kentucky

Union workers, upset over the prospect of expanded weekend shifts, have manned picket lines at bottling and warehouse operations of Kentucky-based Heaven Hill Distillery, one of the world's largest bourbon producers.

The walkout, in its third day Monday, involves about 420 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 23D. They voted overwhelmingly last week to reject a new five-year contract offer and formed picket lines Saturday at Heaven Hill's operations in Bardstown, Kentucky.

Family-owned and operated Heaven Hill produces Evan Williams, one of the world's top-selling bourbons. Other Heaven Hill brands include Elijah Craig, Henry McKenna, Old Fitzgerald, Larceny and Parker’s Heritage Collection.

The dispute over weekend work is a sign of the bourbon industry's growing pains as it tries to keep up with growing global demand.

Heaven Hill signaled that it wanted to assign new hires to nontraditional schedules that would include weekend work, Local 23D President Matt Aubrey said in a phone interview Monday. The company was vague about how widespread the weekend shifts would be and how it would affect existing workers if weekend shifts could not be covered by new employees, he said.

That raised a “red flag” with union workers and led to the walkout, Aubrey said.

“We know Heaven Hill is family owned. They tell these workers, ‘You’re family, just like us. You’re our family,’” Aubrey said, adding that most workers have their own families. "If they get pushed on this nontraditional schedule, then that’s going to take them away from their loved ones.”

Heaven Hill said its support of employees “has been a source of pride” since its founding.

“We have had productive conversations with the union for several months now regarding components of the contract,” the company...