U.S. BEER MAKER IN CAMERA BROUHAHA

WASHINGTON - Beer maker Anheuser-Busch Cos. may have to reinstate
several employees fired for using illegal drugs at work because the
company used hidden cameras without informing the employees' union, a
U.S. federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The brewer fired five workers in 1998 after hidden cameras showed them
smoking marijuana in an area where employees sometimes take breaks at
one of its St. Louis brewing facilities.

Four additional workers were suspended for leaving their work
areas.

Seven others, observed sleeping or urinating on the building's roof,
had to sign "last-chance" agreements.

Those deals said the workers agreed they could be fired for any
further violation of company rules.

A 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit upheld a finding that the brewer committed an unfair labour
practice when it installed the cameras in 1998 before bargaining with
the union, Brewers and Maltsters, Local Union No. 6, as required under
federal labour laws.

The decision by Judge Judith Rogers sends the case back to the
National Labor Relations Board in Washington to determine what, if
any, remedies the disciplined employees are entitled to, including the
possibility of reinstatement for those fired.

The NLRB had ruled that the employees were not entitled to
reinstatement or back pay because Anheuser-Busch had good cause to
discipline them.