American Crystal Sugar and its locked out union workers were scheduled to meet again Friday in an effort to restart contract talks. The company locked out 1,300 workers at five factories last August. This is the fourth time the two sides have met with a federal mediator to try to end the impasse.

A union official says there won't be mass concessions but there will be new proposals when locked out workers site down for mediated talks with American Crystal Sugar on June eighth. The two sides have not spoken since February. The lockout of 1,300 workers began last August.

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.

The sugar giant will offer beet growers in the Red River Valley a lower price this year, partly because of the financial toll of its lockout of 1,300 union workers. But the company says it has already replaced more than half of those workers. Crystal promised growers higher prices next year, when the company expects all of the locked out workers will have been replaced.

Contract talks between American Crystal Sugar's leaders and union representatives once again ended Friday with no resolution. The meeting marked the fourth time the parties have tried to resolve their dispute with a federal mediator. More than 1,300 union workers have been locked-out of plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa for the past 10 months.

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken and Representatives Collin Peterson and Tim Walz suggest it is time to bring in a “new high-level mediator” to help Moorhead-based American Crystal Sugar and union workers reach a deal. The four DFL members of Congress sent a letter to leaders on both sides of the yearlong labor dispute on Thursday.

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.

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.