The local union representing workers at Cargill’s Fort Morgan beef processing plant in Colorado has filed “unfair labour practise charges” against the meat giant.
Teamsters Local 455 has accused Minnesota-headquartered Cargill of not paying staff in a dispute that saw the business pause production at the beef site in May after locking out more than 1,700 workers.
That lockout is still in motion, Teamsters Local 455, the regional arm of Teamsters, said in a statement yesterday (10 June).
Dean Modecker, the secretary-treasurer of the Teamsters’ unit, said: “Cargill is hurting working families in Fort Morgan by illegally cutting benefits and refusing to pay its own workforce after now locking them out for multiple weeks.
“These charges make clear that Cargill cannot ignore the law. It's time for the company to stop stalling and return to the bargaining table.”
Asked for a response by Just Food to the Teamsters charges, Cargill was unable to comment until it receives a notice from the National Labor Review Board.
However, the company said: "A lockout was not the outcome Cargill wanted but after months of bargaining and continued uncertainty around the union’s threatened work stoppage, we made the difficult decision to lockout to ensure facility, employee and food safety."
Cargill added it remains "willing to negotiate in good faith and we remain committed to reaching a sustainable agreement with the union".
In May, Cargill had said the lockout followed “months of bargaining and an employee vote against the latest contract offer”, which Teamsters Local 455 acknowledged had been rejected by a majority of the workers after the previous contract expired on 22 February.
Cargill had said in May the lockout was “a difficult decision” and suggested its proposal was “fair and competitive”.
Cattle scheduled for Fort Morgan had been redirected to other company facilities, while employees continued to be paid under weekly guaranteed provisions in the expired contract, Cargill said last month.
It confirmed with Just Food in May, that the company was not planning to close the Fort Morgan site or permanently end beef production at the site.
“Fort Morgan remains an important facility for Cargill,” the company said, adding it aims to return the plant to normal operations through continued negotiations with the union.
Elsewhere, Cargill has been making adjustments to its processing network in the US.
In February, Cargill said it would shut its ground-beef processing plant in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The move lead to the “permanent” removal of around 221 jobs. Production at the Milwaukee site was due to stop on or around 17 April, with the facility set to close fully by the end of May.
Last year, the company also closed its turkey-processing site in Springdale, Arkansas. That factory produced fresh and frozen turkey products, bone-in turkey breasts and case-ready items.
Meanwhile, in a further anti-trust accusation against Cargill, Teamsters Local 455 referred to a Bloomberg article in May, whereby the US-based meat major had reportedly agreed to settle claims of $32.5m related to an alleged price-fixing scheme.
US meat peer Tyson Foods also settled, according to Bloomberg.
In yesterday’s statement, the union said its Teamsters Food Processing Division “is looking into possible anti-trust issues tied to the company's conduct”.
Jesse Case, the director of that unit, said: “The beef cartel, comprised of Cargill, Tysons, and a couple other companies, have already been sued for violating anti-trust laws for price fixing and ripping off consumers.
“Now they're conspiring to fix labour rates.”
Cargill has not yet provided a response to Just Food to those comments.
