Unionized Meat Packers Merge in Minnesota
A Minnesota union that already represents 13,200 employees in the meatpacking, grocery, healthcare, manufacturing and other industries is merging with another union in southern Minnesota that represents 4,000 meatpackers, the Star Tribune reports.
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Locals 663 and 9 approved a proposal to combine their representation to form a labor union alliance across five Midwestern states.
UFCW Local 663 President Matthew Utecht will continue in his role at the merged union, the article said. UFCW Local 9 President Richard Morgan will move on to become director of packing for southeast Minnesota.
Utecht said the concept of a labor union is to bring workers together so they have a larger collective voice. Although 13,200 people are a significant voice, one can’t argue that the group will be stronger with 4,000 more people, he explained.
The vote to merge the two entities into Local 663 in the Twin Cities is expected to provide additional leverage in future bargaining negotiations in what one union official called “a step in the right direction” to improve safety at meat processing plants, Meatingplace reports. Most of the former UFCW Local 9 union members work at Hormel Foods and Quality Pork Processors in Austin, Minn.
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