Colorado beef plant lockout ends
A beef plant lockout at Cargill’s Fort Morgan, Colorado, has ended as the company and the employees’ bargaining unit confirmed a new agreement has been reached.
“Cargill is pleased that employees represented by Teamsters Local 455 have voted to ratify a new labor agreement for our Fort Morgan beef facility,” the company stated in a news release. “We will work closely with the union on a safe, phased return to operations. Following an extended pause, employees will receive the training and support needed to return safely, while teams ensure the facility is ready to resume production. Employee safety, food safety, and operational readiness will guide every step of the process. We look forward to welcoming employees back and moving forward together.”
The lockout started nearly 85 days ago and had impacted about 1,700 workers. In late July, the two sides were close to an agreement, but union workers rejected the offer.
Chris Suazo, a business agent with Teamsters Local 455, said the union and Cargill officials had stayed in contact throughout negotiations and the vote on Aug. 17 was 1,113 in favor and 211 to reject. Sixteen ballots were voided by the committee for failing to meet requirements.
The company did not disclose any terms of the agreement. “We are not providing additional details about the contract but are focused on implementing the ratified agreement and supporting employees through a safe return to work.”
The agreement includes a front-loaded economic package, with members receiving $1.40 an hour more within the first year, equating to approximately $1,600 over five years, Suazo said. The company plans a phased return to work. Maintenance employees will resume work on Aug. 20, followed by harvest, fabrication, shipping, coolers, and rendering. Full operations are expected to start Sept. 3. The company will pay employees for 32 hours of work for each weekduring the ramp-up phase that includes training and recertification.
Suazo said employees were ready to go back to work.
“We continued negotiating through the whole process and I think we got to a point to where we felt there was nothing left for us to get,” he said, adding the union and employees noted the state of the industry because recent plant closures and realignments was on the mind of all parties.
While they were patient, employees also had to deal with having no health insurance for the past three months, he said.
Suazo said the agreement will hopefully provide stability for the next five years and that should be good for the not only the community and employees, but also Fort Morgan.
“We had quite a bit of support from the community, and it’s just been a long process,” Suazo said. “I think everybody was ready to get back to work. Hopefully the local economy picks up. It’s been well reported the city was losing a tremendous amount of money and hopefully we can help get the city back on track as well.”
During the lockout, cattle originally scheduled for Fort Morgan have been redirected to other Cargill facilities, the company said, so it can continue honoring commitments to producers and customers.
The company said in May its annual payroll had increased by about $32.6 million since 2018, rising from approximately $64.5 million to $97.1 million.
Cargill has also made broader investments in Fort Morgan in support of employees and the community, including housing initiatives near the plant and facility improvements.
Dave Bergmeier can be reached at 620-227-1822 or [email protected].
