They also were in town to prepare for a rally Saturday afternoon aimed at bolstering community support for the workers and at pressuring the company to continue its charitable and other work in the community.

Jack Cipriani, a vice president of the Teamsters union and director of its brewery and soft drink division, was among those participating in the lengthy meetings on Friday. They drew some 40 labor leaders who have dealt with InBev, including union officials from Brazil, Canada and Belgium, as well as Teamsters from around the United States.

The Teamsters represent 8,000 A-B workers in St. Louis and 11 other U.S. plants. Union leaders from all 12 plants were at Friday's meetings. The contract expires on Feb. 28.

Friday's sessions were the first step toward forming a partnership so the unions can not only share information but also help forge strategies to protect their members, Cipriani said.

"As we're having globalization, unions have to think in those same terms to protect the workers' interests," he said.

Cipriani said today's rally is meant "to make sure that InBev and A-B live up to their commitments to the workers, the community and the retirees."

National negotiations begin next week in Cincinnati, chosen as a central location, he said.

One rank-and-file worker, Frank Calcaterra, who has spent 30 years at the St. Louis brewery, said Friday that he hopes labor-management relations remain the same with the change in ownership.

"We've always had a pretty good rapport between A-B and all the trades here, the machinists, the brewers, the electricians and the pipe fitters. It was a good give-and-take situation. The company and labor were always able to sit down and work it out."

Anheuser-Busch Vice President Gary Rutledge and Cipriani said in a joint statement that they were starting negotiations early in hope of reaching "agreement before contract expiration ... to receive pay increases early and to provide employees the certainty of a new labor agreement for the next several years."

Both said they expect the negotiations "to be professional and productive."

The rally Saturday is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at Kiener Plaza in St. Louis.

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