5:30PM UPDATE
The Teamsters Union has asked its members not to make deliveries or provide services to any American Crystal Sugar facilities during the lockout.
11:30AM UPDATE
Workers are picketing in front of the American Crystal Sugar plants in the Red River Valley.
They were locked out by the company at midnight. Workers say they will be outside the plant 24/7.
They say they are waiting for the company to get back to the negotiating table.
The union issued a statement this morning:
"Today, American Crystal Sugar workers in Moorhead, East Grand Forks, Crookston, and Chaska, MN, Hillsboro and Drayton, ND, and Mason City, IA showed up to work only to find their company has locked them out.
Instead of letting 1300 people continue working while a fair contract is negotiated, American Crystal Sugar executives have instead decided to hurt our communities with an unnecessary lockout.
The company has the power to immediately end this lockout and return to the negotiating table.
We want to get back to work and back to the negotiating table as soon as possible.
We're not asking for much.
We're asking for a contract that doesn't put our jobs in jeopardy.
We're asking to continue health coverage that won't put our families in financial ruin if someone gets sick.
We're asking to continue the short-term disability coverage we've been paying for nearly 30 years.
We're asking for an agreement that benefits the company, farmers, workers, and the entire community.
For years, Sugar Workers have stood shoulder to shoulder with the company to protect the sugar industry from harmful government policies and unfair trade agreements.
This partnership has allowed farmers to get a good price for their crop, the company to make record profits, and for the workers to earn a living to support their families and local businesses.
It has been a win-win situation.
We want to continue this partnership and want to go back to work."
American Crystal Union members overwhelmingly voted against a new contract Saturday. While the new contract did offer a pay increase for its 1,300 workers, many of them are concerned about some of the language in it, specifically language that deals with changing health care costs and job security.
Security workers are on site, and by midnight Monday, temporary workers started showing up by bus loads to replace all the union employees.
American Crystal Sugar and all 1,300 of its union workers are on different sides of the fence.
Tony St. Michel, an American Crystal employee of 37 years, says, "We don't have a choice but to hold out because we can't except this. It strips all our rights. It's a union busting tactic."
He continues, "What they're offering us doesn't give us any security. I'm not guaranteed I have a job when i go back you know. And I could get laid off at anytime, and they don't have to recall me."
This is just one issue the union and company do not agree on.
Brian Ingulsrud, American Crystal's Vice President of Administration says "There's just no reality to the idea that they would have a reduction in job security."
Another factor has to do with health care. While the rates are reasonable today, union representatives say they could go up every year, and they wouldn't be able stop it.
Union representatives actually met Sunday in Grand Forks to discuss the proposed contract, but they say they're not comfortable signing the current form. They want to make sure their jobs are secure and not on the chopping block. They also want to make sure their health care costs aren't going to go up from year to year.
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