Anheuser-Busch Cos. plans to cut pension and health-care benefits for its salaried employees as part of an effort to slash $1 billion in costs by the end of 2010 and fend off an unsolicited $46 billion bid from Belgian brewer InBev. In a memo sent Friday to salaried employees, the nation’s largest brewer said employees’ individual, lump-sum pension payouts will be reduced by 5 percent to 6 percent in 2009 and approximately 15 percent by 2012. Workers also will make a bigger contribution to their health insurance plan, rising from 21 percent today to 25 percent of the cost beginning in 2009. “The economic picture has been changing over the past months for all businesses, with sharp increases in costs. For Anheuser-Busch to remain competitive, we are introducing several initiatives in an expanded Blue Ocean (cost cutting) effort that will enhance our profitability,” Anheuser-Busch Vice President of Human Resources Tim Farrell said in the memo. Anheuser-Busch operates a Budweiser brewery in Van Nuys that employs roughly 800 workers. For the full story visit http://www.dailynews.com/ci_9746860
