Stand with Sugar Workers!
This is a cross-post by AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fisher.
For generations, the sugar beet industry has been the lifeblood of northwest Minnesota’s Red River Valley.
Sugar workers always have stood shoulder to shoulder with American Crystal Sugar Co. and farmers to protect and advance the sugar industry.
Together, the workers, company and growers have helped to build the local economy, support families and have made communities flourish. Now, American Crystal has put all of this in jeopardy by locking out workers.
Sign our petition telling CEO Dave Berg: Don’t turn your back on the community!
American Crystal Workers Locked Out
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Some 1,300 American Crystal Sugar Co. employees were locked out in three states yesterday after the workers, members of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) Local 167G, rejected the company’s final offer by a nine-to-one margin.
American Crystal reportedly has hired replacement workers at its seven plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa. Contract negotiations to replace a seven-year contract began in May. The union has filed an unfair labor practice charge against American Crystal, claiming the company has not bargained in good faith.
Local 167G President John Riskey said in a statement the workers ”want to get back to work and back to the negotiating table as soon as possible.”
Shar Knutson, First Female Elected to Lead Minnesota AFL-CIO
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Shar Knutson, president of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation since 1998, will become the new president of the 300,000 member Minnesota AFL-CIO. Knutson, the union group’s first woman president, was elected yesterday by the state federation’s general board.
She succeeds current President Ray Waldron who will retire Oct. 1, after nine years as president.
Knutson, a member of AFSCME Local 1842, says she will continue the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s “mission of securing social and economic justice for Minnesota’s working people.”
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney says:
For the past 10 years, Shar has provided leadership and vision to state and local central bodies across the country as a leader of the Central Labor Council and State Federation Advisory Committee. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Shar and know that her energy and drive will help lead the State Federation for the benefit of the working women and men of Minnesota.
