American Crystal lockout: One year later
July 28, 2012 at 3:30 pm in Grand Forks Herald
The one-year anniversary of the American Crystal Sugar lockout is Wednesday. Unlike most anniversaries, it won’t be celebrated. The lockout has sidelined 1,300 workers at the five plants in the Red River Valley. Continue Reading
So many people fighting. So much unhapppiness. So sad.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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This isn’t fighting…A lot of bitching, but not fighting….If you look back at the history of unions standing up to wealth barrons…..You’ll see there’s a huge difference between what’s going on here and how they initially got these factories to pay living wages and make safer work environments. People not only actually faught on those lines, but lives were lost. This….Mostly posturing
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This isn’t fighting…A lot of posturing, and griping, but not fighting….If you look back at the history of unions standing up to wealth barrons…..You’ll see there’s a huge difference between what’s going on here and how they initially got these factories to pay living wages and make safer work environments. People not only actually faught on those lines, but lives were lost. This is a far cry from that….
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The mods did print the first even with that horrible word they held out for review
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Summarized well. Everyone lost. The company, the workers, the communities. So sad. The closest you get to a winner is the replacement workers who now have a job that they didn’t have before.
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This was an exceptionally well written story. While it was exceptionally sympathetic to the locked out workers, it did not go overboard.
What it hinted at but did not explicitly state is that these workers chose their fate; three times.
There are no victims in this labor dispute; only choices. Management chose to accept less profit in return for a restructured labor agreement and the workers chose to move on whether they wanted to or not.
The most disturbing part of the story is the we the tax payers have paid for some locked out workers to do nothing but feel sorry for themselves for a year. That is completely unacceptable.
I have worked since I was 12. The longest I have ever been without a job is 3 weeks, and that is because I was on vacation for the first two weeks.
I do not know how the gentleman in the story can look himself in the mirror and call himself a man. He obviously has a different definition of manhood than I do.
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Well said sir.
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Paul: I would refer you to my earlier posts. I am against the farm bill.
My problem with unemployment insurance is the length. It is a temporary hold over to keep you from losing everything until you find a new job.
Are you trying to tell me with 3%-4% unemployment in the RRV that this joker cannot find a new job in less than one year. He has never even looked. That is a complete abuse of the system.
It is parasites like this gentleman that inflame people to the point they scrap the whole program. A classic example of a few bad apples being allowed to hurt everyone.
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Sorry if I made you angry TJ but his own words condemned him. Go back & read what he said. He has spent 8 hours a week on the picket line to pick up his $100 a week from the union.
He will now have to find a way to meet his child support obligations (I give him 2 thumbs up for at least paying that) because his unemployment is running out.
I realize you probably know him, but I don’t think he has tried very hard. He will not find another $18 an hour job with 100% paid bennies because they do not exist anymore.
He chose 3 times to forgo his.
As an aside, if he has been working under the table to make ends meet, then he is guilty of defrauding unemployment & needs to be held accountable.
As I said, unemployment is a temporary hold over. It is not a way to allow you to hold out longer during a labor dispute
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Paul: if you weren’t talking to me why did you quote my response ?
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Paul,
While it is accurate that employers pay into a fund for unemployment insurance, all of the cost of covering the extensions (I believe beyond 13 weeks) come from federal taxes (taxpayers).
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Paul,
1st: This is the second time I’ve tried to correct your statements that the company pays for all unemployment so it really isn’t a concern for us taxpayers. Don’t try to change the subject. You can have your own opinion on who is responsible for the lockout, the fairness of the final offer, etc., but you can’t continue to make statements that are easily and demonstratably false.
2nd: I’m not responsible for what other people say and think. If you want to convince them, do that yourself.
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I do feel a year of unemployment is too long. I wish there came a point when the mediator made a decision and both sides had to live with it. Maybe then the two parties would have an incentive to come to an agreement. But I’m a dreamer.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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A better solution would be not to pay them unemployment since they chose not to work by rejecting the contract THREE times.
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So, to be fair, then you’d also ask the union to pay for all of the cost of replacement workers anytime the union goes out on strike???? Just asking.
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It would be interesting if Todd and Jason had an employee and their business did very well. Would they believe that their business success was all because of their employee? Would they then pay 100% of his health insurance and compensate him well above the rate at which others in his field received?
That is the belief of the union, that ACSC success is all because of the employees and that they deserve to be paid much more than others in their field.
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I personally would have been much more sympathetic if the union had accepted profit sharing.
By rejecting profit sharing they gave lie to their claims that they were willing to give back in the bad times to be better compensated in the good.
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During earlier discussions union supporters stated that profit sharing was rejected because it did not guarantee a wage/raise. That info came from the union side, not a management troll
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Found this description in the herald job postings
At the core of American Crystal is the experience and aptitude of a workforce that extends beyond the Company. Guided by their insights and resourcefulness, we continue to find new ways to persevere and triumph through substantial challenges and significant opportunities.
Transforming a raw vegetable such as sugarbeets into pure natural sugar takes more than plants and machines; it takes roll-up-the shirt-sleeve, fresh thinking problem solvers. It takes the kind of work that goes on every day at American Crystal.
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It takes a school yard pissing match between union and company officials where no one can sit down and bargain. This is a company the red river valley can be proud of.
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