Meatpackers locked out of work for more than 70 days rejected the latest contract offer from their employer Cargill Meat Solutions, union officials said.
The Monday vote by more than 1,700 Teamsters Local 455 members means the two sides still have plenty to figure out after what seemed like a hopeful agreement reached last week between union leaders and company officials. Apparently, the members were not as pleased.
“Our members have spoken. They’re demanding more, and we expect to get back to the bargaining table as soon as possible,” a union spokesperson from Teamsters Local 455 said in an email on Tuesday.
Terms of the now-rejected contract were not disclosed.
“We are disappointed that employees voted against the union-recommended settlement. We are evaluating next steps and options and remain open to considering proposals from the union that align with the economic framework previously discussed,” Cargill spokesperson Hli Yang said in an email.
More than 1,700 workers were locked out of Cargill’s processing plant in Fort Morgan on May 20 after rejecting an earlier tentative offer from Cargill that failed to meet wage and benefit demands.
After workers rejected the offer in May, the company closed the plant and redirected cattle to other facilities in Kansas, Nebraska and Texas.
The workers, meanwhile, never took a strike vote but took turns picketing at the plant and later elsewhere in the town to bring attention to their plight. Many have also been collecting unemployment benefits, according to the state labor department.
The Fort Morgan facility processed about 4,000 head of cattle per day last year. Cargill, which had $154 billion in revenues last year, was named the nation’s largest private company for the fifth consecutive year last year by Forbes. It’s also one of the largest meat processors companies in the U.S., sending beef to grocery stores all over.