ACS Union Members Reject Contract

On Saturday?a majority of American Crystal Sugar union workers voted and rejected for a third time the same contract offer American Crystal offered nearly a year ago.?Eighty-two percent of union members voted, and 63 percent voted to again reject Crystal's demands.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Entire News Release from BCTGM Union

Union leaders issued the following statement:

The non-negotiable demands of Crystal Sugar executives would dismantle union workers' health coverage. They also would:

• compromise safety and product quality by exempting outside contractors and supervisors from random drug testing;
• disregard the value of skills and experience, and open the door to favoritism and nepotism in job promotions;
• drastically diminish workers' protection from unjust disciplinary measures; and
• suppress workers' voice on the job.

Crystal sugar executives apparently can't stand prosperity, and would rather waste millions trying to starve workers into submission than engage in constructive negotiations. We know that real give-and-take negotiations are the only way to get this cooperative back on track to productivity and profitability. Crystal Sugar was built by cooperation among farmers, factory workers and managers. That cooperation has produced record profits in recent years, and, only through cooperating, will we be successful again.

We remain deeply grateful to relatives, friends, neighbors and union sisters and brothers, near and far, who have supported us through these dark days. Your strong support will continue to be needed as we strive to reach a fair resolution. We also thank the growers and shareholders who publicly and privately oppose the imprudence and injustice of the lockout. And we thank God for the bishops, clergy and other people of faith who are praying daily for an end to the lockout and successful negotiations.

Most Crystal Sugar union workers are people of the Red River Valley. We've survived devastating floods and we'll endure this too.

To our farmer partners we say, in the words of Ben Franklin: "Gentlemen, if we do not hang together, we shall most assuredly hang separately." End this lockout and let us get back to work making good, saleable sugar from the bumper crop of beets you are now growing.

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ORIGINAL STORY:

The polls are closed and the results are being tallied. Union workers in North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa voted on the?American Crystal Sugars?final contract offer today. The union?overwhelmingly rejected the contract twice before, citing concerns over seniority and job security. But the company wouldn't budge on compromises, saying its a good contract with pay increases and other benefits. Valley News Live finds out if union members are bringing the lockout to an end.

Over a hundred locked out workers came to the Howard Johnson Hotel in Fargo?Saturday to cast their vote of whether to accept American Crystal Sugars final contract offer or not. Lester Bergh is just one of 1300 locked out workers who have the chance to cast a vote, "I'm only voting on the contract. I'm not voting for the union or against the company. I'm voting on the contract only."

Talking with some of the locked out workers it was hard to gauge where these folks really stand. Most told Valley News Live they had problems with the contract but there where many others who just wanted to get back to work. Bergh has heard folks on both side of the argument, "well I've heard it both ways. I've heard some people who are getting a little tired of being locked out and I've heard other people that have said well it's still a bad contract. So their gonna vote for it. It hasn't changed."

Lester Bergh had worked at American Crystal for 15 years before the lock out began. He moved from a floor sweeper to a process technician in that time, and he says this new contract has the potential to change how folks like him move up the chain as they pay their dues. "Basically they can bring people in right off the street who've never been in the factory before and put them into a better paying job over people who've been there for years. Those are some of the issues I have," explains Bergh.

So as the votes are tallied up, one things certain. Bergh says there are no winners in this lockout, "even if it gets voted to accept it,?we've lost a lot of skilled people because of this lock out. There's a good chance it will take years to recover. I mean all they'll ever do is get back to where they would have been had they left us alone in the first place.

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