Crystal union barred from presenting petition at shareholders meeting
December 6, 2012 at 4:39 am in Grand Forks Herald
Leaders of the union representing locked-out American Crystal Sugar were barred from presenting what they say is 100,000 petition signatures urging an end to a dispute that has lasted more than 16 months.
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Members out of work. Families across the valley suffering. The number of actual union members dropping daily. A populace that has lost all sympathy for the union’s plight.
How does the union respond? Another publicity stunt.
I am a firm believer that you reap what you sew. The union keeps re-electing these knuckleheads so they get what they deserve.
At one point I felt sorry for the families involved. I cannot say that I feel the same now.
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“Sow”, not “sew”.
You reap what you sow. You wear what you sew.
Other than that, spot on.
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Gracias. The thing I miss most about my ex is she was a great editor. Much appreciated.
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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That’s easy Jeff….lots of people from all walks of life support the union in this situation. Do you think having members of the clergy adds something?
All of the support they have just drives home the point that a whole lot of folks simply haven’t done their homework. You’re about 16 months into your support as well. Have YOU taken the time to read and understand the offer(s) and looked around to see how the offer(s) stack up?
No?
I didn’t think so.
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100,000 from where? Are you trying to tell me 20% of the population of ND signed your petition? We’re these signatures nationwide?
Why would ACS care about signatures? They are not politicians. They do not respond to votes.
They are businessmen, they respond to decreases in sales. If America was behind you the boycott would have worked.
Think Chick Fil A: I have not eaten there in 6 months. Others who had never eaten there previously now make it a point.
You vote with your business
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Just go to the BCTGM website. You can sign up as many times as you want. Kind of like voting in Chicago.
It was just another BCTGM rouse. And, another John Riskey stupidity minute in the media.
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The Clergy in North Dakota also saw fit to back a Religious Rights act during the Primaries that was nothing more than a way for them to legally discriminate against others. I wouldn’t be touting the common sense of that group to much.
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How many whackos considered themselves to be ministers? Warren Jeffs, David Koresh, Jim Jones … just to name a few. Charlie Manson convinced his followers that he was Jesus Christ. Being a member of the clergy doesn’t automatically mean someone is an outstanding citizen.
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Like Dorothy in Oz, the union has always had the power to end this fanciful adventure. I really feel sorry for the families of the union folks who voted to go back to work.
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For the ones that want to go back to work, there is nothing stopping them. They just have to quit the union, past job and reapply for the job and go through the qualification process.
The union is doing nothing but hold you back. If this is how the death of the union shall be, so be it. The yes voters should think about it, the right thing to do is leave the union in their past and reapply. Don’t have the union think for you, think for YOURSELF. If that’s not enough, think about your family.
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My goodness, how naive! Please tell me that you have something more, Lieutenant. These two Marines are on trial for their lives. Please tell me, Mr. Riskey, that you haven’t pinned these nice people’s hopes on gift-wrapped petitions, promotional stunts and prayer. It’s time for honest, straight talk without false advertising and intimidation. Get back to work.
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They can’t handle the truth!
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I saw the union boobs picketing outside Holiday Inn yesterday and wondered why on earth they’d picket outside a hotel. Guess this explains why. They really must not get it.
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I feel sorry for the poor saps who do not see that they are taking it in the shorts to keep Risky, Olson, Fromke, Bertilli, and Trumka’s paychecks rolling in while they stand out in the cold. Sheep. Pony up those dues Christmas is coming. I am sure the union leaders need to take a vacation to someplace warm.
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On second thought I take that back, I do not feel sorry them. If they act like sheep then they deserve to be sheered like sheep.
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“When defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yeild.”
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HYPOCRISY: picketing outside of stores in an attempt to get the public to BOYCOTT the product made by the company that you WANT TO GO BACK TO WORK FOR!
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If the company and it’s shareholders are happy with where the company is going and where there profits are right now, then I guess it shows the Union is not needed to keep the company moving forward.
So ACS is will to lose money to get the money hungry and benefit hungry workers out. Excuse me if your happy where your working then go to work, but to fight to get something better when the job you currently have makes you two or three times more than the average person in the area you live it. So people are forced after decades working for a company to get an increase in pay but also pay more for insurnce cause the company need to ask you to pay more. Look at Marvin Windows they took PAY-CUTS and RETIREMENT CUTS, and PROFIT SHARING CUTS for the better of the company, and NONE of them employees cried or threatened to strike to keep it from happening. They accepted it just to keep some people from losing their jobs, As far as this lame seniority bull, just cause you’ve been there 30 years doesn’t make you the perfect for the job your appling for.
Get-off your buts and ACCEPT the deal Crystal is offering or go out and find new jobs. Your ENTITLEMENTS have ran out, the only thing your entitled to is a pay check and the benefits they are offering you.
Mr. Riskey get off your butt and get your workers back to work, in the past 16 months you have met with ACS maybe 5 times and they have not moved on there offer, therefore tell your members to either accept or get out and move on. I can tell you I feel bad for the Union workers who have decided they want to go back to work, and you sit there pushing people telling them we can get a better deal but we got to wait it out. You’ve really gotten them better deals so far, some have probably lost their homes, lost family members, or lost friends cause of your lies and promises.
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The union doesn’t have to accept the contract, any worker that votes yes is welcome to go back to work in the factory after they resign from the union and past job. There is no longer a reason to deal with Riskey or the union if any worker likes the contract.
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I heard the NDSU football team rounded up those 100,000 petition signatures in just one day!
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I don’t care who you are, thats pretty funny right there, now!
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Bravo!!!
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Just think … they only have roughly 314,900,000 Americans left to convince they are being treated unfairly.
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Martyrdom covers a multitude of sins.
Mark Twain
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I find it totally disgusting that the Union and it’s Union Workers exploiting their children to get people to feel sorry for them!!! DISGUSTING!!!
They have come to find out no one cares about them, now they use CHILDREN and tears to get sympathy…
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The best part about the Youtube videos was that they disabled the posting of comments on them. It goes to show that they know how the majority feel about them, yet they just don’t want to listen to it.
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Problem is they are making up fake names and account to spew their hate on all new pages. They hide behind a fake name on a computer screen.
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I agree, WDAZl 8 news tonight had a high school age girl, the daughter of a striking worker, on camera saying how miserable her Christmas was going to be. I thought that was deplorable.
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I wonder if that high school age girl ever got a straight answer to a valid question. “Why don’t you work at Crystal, Dad/Mom?” The answer might go something like this. “Because I voted no on the contract and I continue to vote no on the contract knowing I would be and will continue to be locked out.”
Now would be a good time to ask a question of each of these locked out workers still unemployed, even quite a number who have found other employment. It’s similar to the question asked during the recent political campaign. “Are you better off now than you were 16 months ago?”
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According to the radio the other day, Whiting Oil has well over 700 jobs available to anyone that wants them. ND has less than a 3% unemployment rate. If you want a job there are literally THOUSANDS available all you have to do is apply.
The current ACS employees are working under the contract and benefits offered to the Union. They have had over 11,000 applicants for the positions and have hired over 1,000 I hate to tell you, your work force is no longer needed. Time to either fish or cut bait.
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This is my first time posting. I’ve been lurking for quite some time. My spouse is a a former locked out worker, I say former since he crossed a few months ago. My husband was never behind the union, never thought it would go more than a month before the union would head back to work. So my man took a job at the oil patch and did really well, but was missed at home very much. Each time my hubby would speak to anyone of the “leaders” of the union, we just got the same run around and actually treated poorly, like “how dare you question us?” We decided that nobody is going to tell us when we can or can’t work and put food on the table, the union is certainly NOT going to make our house payments. Since my hubs went back to work at Crystal he has been treated Amazing!! My spouse said that the people who are working in the factories are generally just really happy folks and great to work with, they are so glad to have a job and they are smart and catch on very, very fast.
It is very clear from being back in the factories that the company really doesn’t want the union to come back, they knew they would take a loss but in the end it would be worth it. So, if you show them you want to work they treat you like a king/queen.. my spouse said in his 18 years as a union worker he was never this happy or stress free, the factory is running like a well oiled machine and everyone works together.. no more back stabbing or crying to a union head about this or that. The wages are excellent and the medical is very good. My children won’t be crying on you tube cause their parents are not sitting on their butts this Christmas or crying at Hugo’s or outside factory gates.. their parents are willing to work.
Did you know that before this last vote Dec 1st that at the EGF union told its people to vote no at all costs?? Yes.. even if it meant losing their homes… sick.. sick.. sick!!!
I hope the union never comes back, but even if the idiots do, my hubby has been assured he will keep his job, sadly he will have to rejoin “what is left of the union” but thats what is funny.. the way it is planned.. they will be a union in name only… the company had 7 years to prepare.. they did a good job.
Each day more and more are crossing, the ones that won’t are the ones that know the union is gone and they are so bitter they would rather sit and cry and make their kids go on camera and cry as well.
The union is gone, each time I see them boycotting I want to puke, what is funny is you walk into the store and listen to people talking and they are all just saying how pathectic the union is and in the cart goes the bag of Crystal Sugar and they laugh…you lost, its over, move on.
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crtmom, my husband also worked at ACS when the union was there, but he is a very hard worker and couldn’t stand not promoting due to his work ethic, but his “number” on the seniority list. He applied for many jobs within the company when he was there that all the supervisors wanted to put him in, BUT someone with more seniority applied as well and got the job based on that. He also didn’t like not having any benefits and hated having summers off. He would much rather work full-time, year round, but of course only a few of those positions were available and only “seniority” got them. My hubby could only take a year of that before he quit. Now fast forward a few years later and the union is out so he went to get a job…figuring he’d better get in there now before all the jobs are taken, hoping the union doesn’t go back. He LOVES it there! He is in a position he loves, he’s already gotten a raise, he has full benefits, and he has now worked for a straight solid year. He is getting his name known because of his work ethic, his ability to multitask, and his amazing attendance. There is no seniority list. ACS moves people to different shifts and/or different positions if they feel someone would fit better in a different spot and it works well! My hubby said everyone is happier now than they were when he worked there previously. He said the office staff, the supervisors, the administration, etc., all are much happier and way more involved with the employees than they were previously. He said they all pitch in and help each other out. He has talked to people in other stations within the company and they said they are breaking production records in different departments! He said it is a completely different place than it was years ago and he loves every minute of it. One has to wonder if all the employees have to vote a union in, if the union goes back and there happen to be more replacement workers than union members, if they can vote the union out? I would imagine that if the number keeps dropping and keeps dropping that maybe that’s a possibility. One could hope anyway!
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Not to worry, if they actually ratify the agreement all your husband would have to do is join the union….. Don’t panic, it would only be for a month or two. The replacement employees outnumber the union. So the replacement group just needs to petition the NLRB to de-certify the union. (30% is needed for the petition) NLRB would come in and sanction the vote. Majority rules and the union would be gone. I believe that the union employees who have been voting yes would also vote for decertification.
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By the time the yes voters quit the union and go back to work, there most likely will never be a passing vote. The way it is now, it would be at least 95% to decertify if they ever by chance do pass it.
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Probably 20-25 stood outside along the entrance to the parking lot holding their Boycott Crystal and End the Lockout signs until 8:30am when the media showed. As soon as they finished their publicity stunt for the local news, they all left. When will they get it into their heads that a job with Crystal (or any job for that matter) isn’t an entitlement. At this point a 4th NO vote has surpassed any option to return. Many growers knew some of the guys hanging out in front and know their reputation. They wouldn’t hire them to work on their farms so why would they want them back in the factories.
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I do find it funny some of them locked out workers have gone to work for farmers, kinda sounds a little like hypocrites to me… They are going out striking and trying to boycott ACS when they are working for the people who OWN and supply the Sugar Beets for the company they are at odds with. I mean come on you idiots really look like loser, and then to leave once the cameras leave, they leave. I am thinking Mr. Riskey made a point to call local Media to get them cover them turning in all them signatures, and just happened to have a KID there with a written and approved statement she delivered and have her act like she was holding back tears. This Union is all about Publicity. And as I did state before they are exploiting a child to get people in this area to feel sorry for them. I’d never she them any respect after pulling a stunt like that.
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I just visited the BCTGM website. The petition can be “signed” with a simple mouse click.
While technology is awesome and everything, I do find it disturbing that folks that just plain don’t know what’s REALLY going on in this situation, can visit the BCTGM site and read what the union’s “version” is….and then *sign* the petition there after doing their, ummmm….”research”.
It would be interesting to choose some petition-signers randomly and ask them for some details about the company, the lock-out, the timeline, the offers, the union’s shenanigans, etc.
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I too visited the BCTGM website. On the site they are encouraging folks to buy holiday treats made by hard working BCTGM brothers and sisters. Many of the treats contain sugar from, you guessed it, American Crystal Sugar Company. Hmmm.
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The girl Casandera, is going to have a bad Chirstmas. Poor girl, her father took a job, at anti-union Walmart for $10.20 an hour. All she had to do is turn around and ask him why he took that job instead of voting yes, to go back with the Union and a contract. I am sure she saw him standing there, in the corner to her right.
Can’t have much of a Christmas on those wages. He can’t even boycot in front of Walmart for fear of being fired. She should ask him. Is it better to work for a non-union store or go back with the Union and a contract? Why did you vote no and ruin my Chirstmas?
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Don’t forget, he gets a 10% discount on all regularly priced merchandise!
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The time for Photo Ops is over.. The time to actually sit down and do some work for the members of the Union have far since passed. I find it reprehensible that this guy still pulls a paycheck while the thousands of employees that paid their dues for him to represent them have been raked over the coals as a cheap commodity.
I honestly don’t believe anything that comes out of the Union leaderships mouth, much less that this joker was elected yet once again without some shenanigans on the Unions part. They are nothing more than modern day mobsters.
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