1,700 workers locked out: Teamsters hit Cargill with federal labor charges in Colorado showdown.
Article excerpt
1,700 workers locked out: Teamsters hit Cargill with federal labor charges in Colorado showdown. A labor dispute between one of the nation's largest meat processors and more than 1,700 unionized workers escalated this week as the Teamsters union filed federal labor charges against Cargill, alleging the company illegally cut off pay and benefits for employees locked out of a Colorado beef processing facility. The unfair labor practice charges, filed by Teamsters Local 455, come three weeks into a standoff at Cargill's Fort Morgan beef plant, a major processing facility that supplies beef to consumers across the United States. The lockout began May 20 after months of contentious contract negotiations over wages, health-care benefits and workplace safety provisions. The dispute has halted harvesting operations at the plant since April 23, creating uncertainty for workers, cattle suppliers and the local economy in northeastern Colorado, where Cargill is one of the region's largest employers. "Cargill is hurting working families in Fort Morgan by illegally cutting benefits and refusing to pay its own workforce after now locking them out for multiple weeks," Dean Modecker, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 455, said in a statement announcing the charges. "These charges make clear that Cargill cannot ignore the law. It's time for the company to stop stalling and return to...
Keep reading with a free account
The rest of this article, and every signal for Cargill, is in your free account.
Extracted from this sentence
Last year, Cargill celebrated the opening of a workforce housing development that included an 81-unit apartment complex and 27 townhomes, part of a $40 million effort aimed at attracting and retaining employees in a tight labor market.
