Union official: No progress in Crystal talks
June 8, 2012 at 7:56 am in Grand Forks Herald
A mediation session today involving American Crystal Sugar executives and locked-out union workers apparently ended without any progress toward a settlement of the lengthy dispute.
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pffft….
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Scott why can’t you read? I stated general factory worker 12.50 to 14.75 an hour. Ged or highschool grad are all the qualifications you need. I believe skills would be learned on the job. I don’t know what you are arguing any ways my point was american crystal isn’t just taking anyone off the street and hiring them at 20 dollars an hour. Hence I compared an actual skilled position(electrician) to an entry level position. Remember these skilled electricians and welders. Were kicked to the curb with every other union member. That has been my position all along. I think your confused to what the actual relavent conversation is. Get a life scott.
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Ron, that has NOT been your position all along. I “reminded” you in my last post about all of the talking you’ve done about what constitutes “skilled labor”. You’ve posted SEVERAL times on the topic. Are you saying now that you didn’t? You’ve maintained all along that ACS’s contracts have been “in line” as far as compensation goes because you consider the workers “skilled”. Good grief man, how many times have I suggested you COMPARE the compensation to what’s offered elsewhere for similarly skilled jobs? How many times have you refused to do so?
Go back and re-read EVERYTHING you’ve posted in every thread since this all began. When you’re done doing that, go back to the classifieds and compare positions, qualifications, and skills HONESTLY and see how the numbers match up.
This was just posted yesterday Ron:
“We have discussed this before and I was severely thrashed for saying it. $15 an hour plus benefits for a non-skilled, semi-skilled position is darn good. My son was earning $9 an hour and no bennies at his old place.”
What part of that do you not get? This person, (with the skill, education, and experience this person has), got quite a bump in pay AND benefits when he went to ACS.
Why is that?
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Cause he’s working in a factory instead of sams club! Its common sense that I would think you should have!
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Working conditions between sams club and american crystal are night and day! to even compare the 2 is st+pid.
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Be sure to tune in daily for the ron & Scott show…sponsored by American Crystal Sugar Company, Monsanto, and Farmer’s Union Insurance Company.
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I’d suggest the two of them just “get a room”.
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Ron, this whole time Scott has been trying to get you to go to the classifieds and compare an entry level factory job description, pay, and benefits, compared to those of ACS. He is not saying go to the classifieds and compare Sam’s Club wages or a hotel housekeeping wage, even though I know he used it as an example in the above post…he is saying go look at the factories and come back and tell us what other factories offer to start. I know the factories where I live offer $10 to $13 an hour starting, usually starting at the lower end of that. Also, the other factors where I live offer only partial payment for insurance, leaving the employees (union employees I might add) with paying a major portion of their insurance. As well, they don’t get near the sick leave or vacation pay that is offered to ACS.
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It looks like Mr. Riskey has lost 2 jobs in a year. Can the union members make it a trifecta? http://results.sos.nd.gov/resultsSW.aspx?text=Race&type=CIALL&map=CTY&area=Minto&name=Minto
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They re-elected him. It’s worse than I thought. The people in Minto are smarter than the BCTGM union employees. I guess we can’t tell polish jokes anymore.
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He may have been the lesser of 2 evils, I hear that Scott Ripplinger was running against him. I wonder what his platform was.
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Inmyhonestopinion, he directly compared flyinf nurse’s son bump in pay from 9 dollars an hour and no benefits to an entry level replacement job at american crystal. If you have followed these threads for any amount of time nurse has stated multiple times that his son worked at sams club before he applied with american crystal. So yes he did ask me to compare american crystal to sams club!
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instead of complaining about the other guy go apply at american crystal if their compensation package is “so great”
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Min dak coop 12.65-25.24 per hour. Couldn’t find any job listing for the renville plant.
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Perhaps you ought to pick up an app from Sam’s Club and one for an entry-level replacement worker position at ACS.
Put the “qualification similarities” in one column, and the “qualification differences” in another column.
Post up your results.
Then by all means explain where all of the 7000 applicants and 800 or so new hires came from. Were they teleported here? Did they give up MORE pay and benefits elsewhere to come to ACS? Where did all of the “qualifications” entry-level positions at ACS require even come from? What if a whole LOT of them have never set foot in a factory before?
How DOES it all work Ron?
Copy and paste the prerequisites for the entry-level positions at ACS and some other area jobs you find in the classifieds as well. I’ll TRY and help you sort it all out.
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I already told you the prerequisites for a general factory worker at american crystal along with the pay scale and the competition (minn dak) pay scale. Look it up yourself you lazy guy! I have already proved the american crystal pay scale is not rediculous and on par with an exact competitor. Google it!
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I guess the big mystery then Ron, is WHY the company received so many applicants. Given the “horrendous” working conditions, the “horrible and greedy” management team, and the way the company has “proven” it doesn’t care one bit about their employees, why would SO many people be willing to give up their “on par” pay AND benefits elsewhere….to come to ACS?
And when they made the choice to come to ACS, where did the plethora of skills and experience they’d need for the entry-level jobs come from? It IS a factory Ron, and you seem convinced there’s something “special” about that, that simply cannot be compared to anything else.
It’s also odd that so many locked-out workers are still holding out hope of going back to work there, you know…..given the “horrendous-ness” of the working conditions and the company in general. Not to mention the fact that they could be similarly-compensated somewhere else.
I’ve attempted to Google answers to ALL f those questions Ron, and have come up empty. What gives?
Today’s Googling for you Ron, should start with the word “ridiculous”. See if it contains the letter “e”.
(sorry ‘about all of this TJ. Ron brings out the worst in me. Well, not the “worst”….because when he flip-flops all over the place and doesn’t remember from one day to the next what he’s said, and doesn’t realize how silly he sounds a lot of the time, I really want to lay into him. I try to throttle it back a bit at least.)
Perhaps Ron and I should agree to start a Google document or something. He can post to it and I can reply and vice-versa. I’m willing to do that but ONLY if he agrees to some ground rules. If he asks me a question, I HAVE TO answer it. If I ask him a question he HAS TO answer it. No question-dodging, or obvious attempts to swerve the topic into a ditch when the question(s) asked become difficult or uncomfortable. I’ll also agree to be directly and exactly quoted, (nothing new…I’ve never had a problem with that.) Ron ALSO has to agree to be directly and exactly quoted, (something he’s perhaps not so crazy about.)
You in Ron?
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He brought out the worst in me to. What a coincidence. By the way…you two have been very kind to me. I deserved to be told off a long time ago.
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On today’s show…ron & Scott will be debating the differences between working at Sam’s Club and American Crystal Sugar Company. Their guest will be the late Sam Walton….who is as dead as this debate…but more interesting.
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tj, congratulations on the union’s decision to vote on June 23rd. I hope that you and your family get a result that you can appreciate.
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Thank you oofda….I want closure. I hate living in limbo.
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Scott, you like to classify everyone in the plant as unskilled! This is not the case they hire both skilled and nonskilled workers and pay accordingly. The answer to your questions are right in front of you but you are to blind and ignorant to actually read and comprehend a conversation. You could care less what anyone wants to say and even when they agree you still argue that they are wrong just because you don’t like that person. Get a life buddy, I don’t bring out the worst in you because you do that to yourself. Peace out talk to me when the conversation is relavent again.
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“Scott, you like to classify everyone in the plant as unskilled! ”
Hardly Ron, and that just goes to show how difficult it is for you to pay attention. How many times now have I referred to positions there and elsewhere that fall into the category of “skilled” as “skilled” is defined pretty much everywhere? How many times have I referred to the VALUE and RELEVANCE of having, (and paying attention to), accepted industry and/or workplace terms that clearly illustrate what an employee brings to the table? How many times have I mentioned that there’s a reason the “skills” section of a job application isn’t a full blank page or two meant to be filled up with all manner of miscellaneous job-specific TASKS people picked up along their employment journey, and is instead two or three lines meant to be used for things that perhaps carry some relevance to more than one place? How many times have I used the phrase “just because” when the compensation package of someone has been artificially inflated via a contract INSTEAD OF the individual receiving that level of pay and benefits BECAUSE they are among the category that’s traditionally defined and recognized as “skilled”?
Here comes my standard “Ron invitation” again. You posted that I “like to classify everyone in the plant as unskilled”.
All you have to do now is copy and paste a statement from me that says that.
Good luck Ron.
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If the union members reelcted the same leader I highly doubt they will vote in favor of the final offer. Would be counterproductive to reelect the same leadership if your opinion of the final offer differs from his.
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