Posted on 12/03/2012 5:25:55 AM PST by TurboZamboni
FARGO, N.D. — Their ranks thinned by a 16-month lockout, American Crystal Sugar Co. workers on Saturday rejected a contract for the fourth time.
Contract opponents say the sugar beet processor’s five-year contract offer would cut health care benefits and weaken job security and seniority protections. The company says the offer would raise worker pay by 17 percent over five years when a $2,000 signing bonus is taken into account.
Leaders of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International union said in a news release that the workers voted 55 percent to reject management’s contract offer.
“By now it should be clear that (company CEO) Dave Berg and Crystal Sugar’s management team has no interest in ending a fiscally irresponsible lockout that has been disastrous to farm shareholders, put the federal sugar program in jeopardy, and hurt countless families in the Red River Valley,” said John Riskey, the head of a union local that represents employees at three American Crystal factories.
(Excerpt) Read more at bismarcktribune.com ...
Move the operations to the South Bay, Florida facility.
Interesting that it’s the same union in which 5000 of that union were involved in killing Hostess, and losing a reported total of 18,500 jobs.
I know not enough about the plight of the company, or those of the union to comment otherwise.
What's really interesting to me is that the union admits 45% of the workers want to go back to work. I wonder if it was secret ballot or a voice vote? My guess is more like 70% to 80% want to get back to work and it's only the diehards holding out. And they're holding out because of what happened with Hostess. This company's not going out of business. And North Dakota is booming so there probably are other jobs for these workers to go to.
the offer would raise worker pay by 17 percent over five years when a $2,000 signing bonus is taken into account.
>>Interesting that it’s the same union in which 5000 of that union were involved in killing Hostess, and losing a reported total of 18,500 jobs.<<
I was thinking the same thing. MO’s war on sugar.
Union behavior all across the country is pretty bizarre considering how badly their ballot proposals did in most states. They’re in a state of panic here in Michigan because they know that right to work is coming to Michigan and they can’t even count on their own members to vote against it.
Union spin. At least one of the plants has been run in ND by non-union employees, who according to some sources are doing just fine. North Dakota is a right-to-work state.
I feel we are in for a long stretch of labor strife, strikes and difficulties.
The union movement got their guy Barry re-elected and they are feeling their oats. They think this is the moment to “turn the tide” against the decline of unions (which they blame 110% on Reagan firing the PATCO controllers).
The NLRB will certainly be friendly to them. I expect to see a Card Check-style unionization election in most large workplaces before the decade is through.
A signing bonus for unskilled labor? Line workers should only make minimum wage. It's not rocket science.
I doubt that any deal they make now will make up for the lost income over that 16 months.
Leaders of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International union said in a news release that the workers voted 55 percent to reject management’s contract offer.
And when the workers lose their jobs guess who will have theirs.
American Crystal Sugar has its sugar beet processing plants in Minnesota and North Dakota-where the sugar beets are grown. To truck the beets to Florida would be a tad bit expensive.
>>Union behavior all across the country is pretty bizarre considering how badly their ballot proposals did in most states. They’re in a state of panic here in Michigan because they know that right to work is coming to Michigan and they can’t even count on their own members to vote against it.<<
True. When Scott Walker survived his recall (thanks in part to union households), it was the shot across the bow for union leaders. And the result of their power grab ballot proposals didn’t do them any favors. It will be interesting to see how they fare in the next four years.
No sympathy.
Open a processing plant in Canada and truck the beets there.
My prediction is that Michigan will be a right to work state in under 5 yeas and probably much sooner. Funny thing is that union panic is what will bring it about.
Lots of recent news on it here.
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/pubs/mcc/
There is a double situation here.
North Dakota is a right to work state, but the sugar co-op benefits enormously from the federal sugar program, that price controls sugar in the US to as much as four times the price of foreign sugar. And the federal sugar program likely has a union requirement.
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