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Bargaining Updates
After bargaining since last October, nearly 1,000 workers represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1142 at Smithfield Foods' John Morrell plant in Sioux City, Iowa, have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new four-and-a-half-year contract agreement,.
The four and a half year agreement delivers wage increases that keep plant workers at the top of the industry standard. The new contract establishes:
--Wage increases including $1.50/hr. base wage increase over the life of the contract for production workers and $1.65/hr. base wage increase for maintenance workers.
--Maintains affordable health care, with no co-premium increases in the first or last half year of the contract. Weekly increases of $1.50 for individual and $3 for family coverage are triggered in years two, three, and four of the contract.
--Maintains pension security
--Increases sick pay
--Improves working conditions
“We’ve been at the bargaining table since last October,” said UFCW Local 1142 President Warren Baker. ”The negotiations were contentious. There’s always give and take, but, in the end, we arrived at a fair settlement. What’s puzzling about Smithfield is how it engages responsibly in the bargaining process with workers here in Sioux City, but at its Tar Heel, North Carolina, plant the company is anything but responsible in the way it treats workers. It’s really a Jekyll and Hyde situation with Smithfield, and it makes people working for them very concerned.”
“The contract is really good in terms of the health insurance,” said Gary Petz, who has worked at the plant for 23 years. “Overall, the good wage increases and benefits are a result of everyone sticking together for a contract that provides security for our families.”
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