A day after rejecting Cargill Meat Solutions “last, best and final offer,” more than 1,700 union workers employed at the Fort Morgan plant found themselves locked out Wednesday by the company.
“They voted 90% against the contract. At that point, the employer notified us that at 12 o’clock last night, we would be locked out,” said Dean Modecker, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 455, which represents the Cargill workers. “What that meant is that the minute we left the parking lot (last night), they put up the barriers. They put out security and they’re refusing to allow us back at the facility even though our members just want to work.”
Negotiations between the company and union to replace a contract that expired in February broke down about four weeks ago. Essentially, workers were told to stay home with pay as negotiations continued. That pay ended last night, Modecker said.
He was unsure how the plant was keeping up with processing beef for the past month “and we usually run 2,500 heads a day,” he said. Union workers are employed throughout the processing line, from the kill floor to cutting steaks.
In an email to The Colorado Sun, Cargill spokesperson Hli Yang said the company initiated the lockout because “continued uncertainty around a potential work stoppage creates challenges to operating safely, responsibly and reliably.”
She said Cargill “respects employees’ right to vote and remains committed to reaching a ratified agreement with the union.”
And she said the lockout was “a difficult decision and not the outcome we wanted. We believe our proposal is fair and competitive, representing an estimated $33.4 million investment over five years. While negotiations continue, we remain focused on safety, responsible operations and serving customers through Cargill’s broader supply chain network. Under current plans, we do not expect material impacts to producers or customers.”
Cattle to the Fort Morgan plant have been redirected to other company facilities to honor “commitments to producers and customers,” according to an update the company posted online.
The company also shared that base wages are $23.50, up 53% since 2018. The average wage is $24.78. Cargill’s latest offer “builds on that progress with a five-year agreement designed to provide employees with stability and predictable wage increases over the life of the contract,” according to the company.
The lockout comes just months after Cargill began implementing the use of new artificial intelligence technology they said would get more meat off every animal while keeping their workers healthier, safer and motivated to work harder.
CarVe works with cameras above a factory production line watching workers and delivering instant feedback on their performance to frontline managers.
Cargill said with the U.S. cattle supply at its lowest in years, “even a 1% yield improvement can keep hundreds of millions of pounds of beef in the food system annually, helping amid tight supplies and higher prices.”
But some have been critical of technology that captures everything from the pace at which an employee works to the sharpness of their knife and even, in Cargill’s words, their “emotional behavior” influenced by factors on and off the job.
In March, about 3,800 JBS USA employees went on strike in Greeley, seeking higher pay and benefits and better working conditions. After three weeks on strike, union members ratified a new contract.
Cargill workers in Fort Morgan never took a strike vote, Modecker said. They had planned to keep working as contract negotiations progressed. He declined to share specifics, but said the sticking points were mostly economic, from wage increases to improved healthcare coverage, to not being able to go to the bathroom in between breaks.
“I’ve got grown men and women who can’t even go to the bathroom. Their employer won’t let them so literally they’re urinating in their pants,” he said. “They’ve (workers) put up with this for years and years and it finally came to a head between the economics and the way they’re treated daily.”
A Cargill spokesperson said the company is committed to providing employees adequate restroom access, scheduled breaks and meal periods during each shift. Employees are not disciplined for following company processes around these, which are shared during new hire orientation and employee meetings, they said.