Crystal Sugar workers to vote again on labor contract

Author:: BMTN Staff
Publish date:: Nov 24, 2012

On Dec. 1, locked-out workers of American Crystal Sugar will take another stab at approving a proposed labor contract, the Forum reports.

More than 1,300 union workers from plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa have been locked out since August 2011.

A union official tells MPR that the contract is essentially the same one that union members rejected in June. The Forum said 82 percent of members participated in the last vote, but it's unclear how many are expected to turn out in December.

This will be the fourth vote since the lockout began 16 months ago and the company has not changed its offer since then, according to a Grand Forks Herald report.

American Crystal Sugar stands by the contract that offers a 13 percent raise over five years but would also expand the company's ability to contract out union jobs and increases workers' out-of-pocket health care expenses.

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Locked-out union workers from American Crystal Sugar will try once more to resolve its differences with company owners when it votes on a contract proposal Saturday. The workers, locked out of plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa for nearly a year, have overwhelmingly rejected two previous contract offers.

Locked-out American Crystal Sugar workers in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa are soon going to vote on a company offer for the third time in less than a year. The vote, set for June 23, comes after failed talks last week between the company and the workers' union. American Crystal Sugar said this is their final offer.

American Crystal Sugar is adamant that it will not change its contract offer to 1,300 union workers. Some of the employees who have been locked out for nearly 11 months are now interested in voting again on the offer they've spurned in the past. Union leaders have scheduled a vote for June 23.

Union members are demonstrating at the homes of American Crystal Sugar's directors as the labor dispute drags on. An AFL-CIO spokesman tells the Fargo Forum the demonstrations will continue indefinitely. Roughly 1,300 workers have been locked out from plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa for more than a year.