Kemps workers picket as Teamsters negotiate a new contract
May 5—ROCHESTER — About 25 workers at Rochester's Kemps ice cream plant picketed on Monday to spotlight contract negotiations between Teamsters Local 120's and the company's owner Dairy Farmers of America cooperative.
The previous three-year labor contract for the 173 union members who work at the facility at 406 N. Broadway Ave. ended on April 1. John Chappuis, business agent for Teamsters Local 120, said that the negotiation team has met with the company six times to discuss the contract.
As the negotiations drag on, the Teamsters 120 members voted over the weekend to authorize the possibility of a strike.
Nick Fields, a machine operator who has worked at Kemps in Rochester for 16 years, stood in front of the plant and said that the overall situation is simple.
"We work hard," he said. "We just want an open conversation with the company. We want a good contract, and we're willing to fight for that."
Chappuis and Fields acknowledged tha t the previous contract was "a good deal" with "record wages," so that sets a high bar for this contract.
"You're never going to go backwards with a contract," said Chappuis.
Fields described some of the top issues that the Kemps employees are tracking in this contract.
"We're still kind of digging out of the hole of being essential workers during the pandemic and what we went through with that," said Fields. "We'd always like to improve on health care. That never goes down, so we would like to try to stay ahead of that the best we can ... As far as wages, we'd like to just stay in line with what we have. But that depends on a lot of other things on the table."
He added that conditions in the freezer department, which has a temperature of minus 20, are currently changing in ways that make working in the freezer more difficult.
"We just want protections for our work," said Fields.
The Post Bulletin has reached out to DFA for comment about the negotiations, but DFA has not yet responded.
Monday's picket in Rochester was part of a nationwide week of Teamsters' action. DFA is in negotiations with the union for 20 different collective bargaining agreements covering 2,000 workers. DFA has owned Kemps for 11 years.
Rochester is the primary site for Kemps' ice cream production. It produces roughly 126,000 gallons of ice cream and yogurt products a day. The milk churned to ice cream comes from dairies located within 200 miles of the plant.
The ice cream facility's history in Rochester dates back to the founding of the Parkin Ice Cream Co. of Rochester in 1911. Kemps Ice Cream Co. of Minneapolis was founded in 1914. Kemps was sold to Crescent Creamery in 1924.
Marigold Dairies of Rochester was founded in 1928 when W.R. Cammack, son of Crescent Creamery co-founder along with two former officers with the Vander Bie Ice Cream Co. of St. Paul, purchased Parkin Ice Cream.
Kemps, Crescent Creamery and Marigold joined forces in 1961. In 1968, the Dutch company NV Wessanen Koninklijke Fabrieken bought Marigold Foods. National Dairy Holdings then purchased Marigold in 2001, and it was renamed as Kemps in 2002.
In 2004, HP Hood purchased Kemps and then sold it to DFA in 2011.
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