Latest news with #UFCWLocal663
CBS News
31-07-2025
- Health
- CBS News
Lawsuit alleges Hormel Foods denied workers earned safe and sick time
Workers are suing Minnesota-based Hormel Foods, alleging the food giant does not allow employees to take paid time off if they get sick. The class action lawsuit alleges Hormel violated the Minnesota Earned Safe and Sick Time law for UFCW Local 663 members. The union represents more than 1,600 meatpacking workers at Hormel's Austin, Minnesota, plant. The lawsuit claims workers had to use vacation days instead of sick days if they wanted to get paid for the time off. Hormel is accused of refusing to provide employees with earned sick and safe time (ESST) benefit accruals for their work between Jan. 1, 2024, and March 1, 2025, and denying the workers' statutory right to carry over their accrued, unused ESST benefits into the 2025 calendar year. The lawsuit also alleges Hormel failed to give "all or most" employees any of the ESST benefits they earned in January and February this year, "Workers, advocates, and legislators fought hard to make Earned Sick and Safe Time law. Now, ESST is a statewide standard," said UFCW Local 663 President Rena Wong. "UFCW 663 members know what it means to fight for what we deserve and win. After all, workers at Hormel set the standard for wages in the meatpacking industry." Hormel declined to comment. The lawsuit is the first of its kind since the law passed in 2023, according to the Minnesota Senate DFL. Under the law, anyone is eligible for the sick and safe time if they work 80 hours a year and don't qualify as an independent contractor. The policy approved by the DFL-led legislature allows people to use the time for treating mental or physical illness, going to medical appointments, caring for a family member who's ill, and even due to inclement weather that may close children's school and keep them home. It also covers absences related to domestic abuse or sexual assault. "As chief author of the 2023 Earned Sick and Safe Time law, I am proud to stand with the workers of UFCW Local 663 as they demand the rights they are due," Sen. Sandra Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, said. "Hormel must follow Minnesota law and stop disrespecting its workers. I look forward to UFCW Local 663's day in court." There's a long history of labor activism at the Hormel plant in Austin. In the mid-1980s, about 1,500 workers went on strike for 13 months in one of the longest strikes in state history. The employees cited a wage freeze, dangerous working conditions and a wage cut as the reason for the Cummings contributed to this report.
Yahoo
31-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Workers allege Hormel violated Minnesota sick leave law
Jul. 30—AUSTIN, Minn. — The union representing Hormel workers in Austin, Minnesota has filed a class action lawsuit alleging the meat packing company violated the state's earned sick and safe time law the first year it was in effect. UFCW Local 663, the Hormel workers' union representing about 1,600 employees at the Austin Hormel plant, announced the suit Wednesday, July 30, 2025. Minnesota's sick and safe time law, passed in May 2023, requires employers to provide employees one hour of paid leave for every 30 hours worked for up to 48 per year of paid leave time for a full-time worker. Employees can use the leave time for illness, care for a sick loved one, seek housing and safety in domestic abuse situations or for weather-related hazards. The suit alleges Hormel forced employees to use their contractual vacation benefits in order to avoid losing pay during those absences when the law went into effect in 2024. The union challenged Hormel's policy in April 2024, saying it violated the workers' collective bargaining agreement by diminishing their vacation benefits. In February 2025, a labor arbitrator ruled the company could not use paid vacation to comply with the leave law. Beginning March 1, 2025, Hormel began providing an hour of leave for every 30 hours worked. However, the suit alleges Hormel did not provide employees with earned sick and safe time or restore benefit accruals retroactively from January 1, 2024 through March 1, 2025. Four employees named plaintiffs in the lawsuit — Daniel Lenway, Dalia Cruz Ayala, Juan Cruz Gastelum, and Jason Novak — would all have earned the law's maximum 48 hours of sick and safe leave in 2024, the suit alleges. The lawsuit is asking for damages based on the amount of earned sick and safe time benefits earned by Hormel employees "that could have been used and/or could have been carried over from January 1, 2024 to March 1, 2025." DFL Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, St. Paul, attended the public announcement of the lawsuit in Austin. Murphy said the law was designed to keep workers and the public safe by allowing people who are sick to stay home. "I want workers who work in our food safety industry to come to work healthy to do their jobs," Murphy said, calling the right to call in sick a "basic human right." Dan Lenway, Hormel employee of nearly 30 years and lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, said the earned sick and safe time law has finally given Hormel employees a way to be paid when they're sick. "It gives us the time to care for ourselves and our families when we need it the most," said Dan Lenway, Hormel employee and lead plaintiff in the lawsuit. "It means we don't have to risk our jobs or our wages just to take care of our health or our families." Louris Marshall O'Brien, P.A. is representing the UFCW 663 in the suit. Hormel said in a statement the company doesn't comment on pending litigation. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
03-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Nearly 3,000 Cub Foods workers win new contract with pension contributions, raises
Nearly 3,000 Cub Foods workers win new contract with pension contributions, raises originally appeared on Bring Me The News. After contentious negotiations that included unfair labor practice charges and the threat of a strike, hundreds of unionized Cub Foods workers across the Twin Cities have a new contract. UFCW Local 663 announced this week that it has ratified a three-year contract with higher wages for all employees, increased hours for part-time workers, and "significant investment" in worker pensions. The union represents nearly 3,000 grocery store workers at Cub locations operated by United Natural Foods (UNFI) and Haug's. The contract includes employer pension contributions of 8.8% year over year and wage increases of 9.5% to 13% for full-time workers over the course of the contract. That's a $3.15 an hour increase for workers employed by Haug's and a $3 increase for those with UNFI. Workers at UNFI's Cub stores will also have limitations on involuntary store transfers, as well as improved scheduling protections. 'Members organized, fought for, and won a contract that raises standards for essential grocery workers. These workers had incredible support from customers and leaders like Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan and Senator Bernie Sanders,' UFCW Local 663 President Rena Wong said in a statement. 'Together, we are ensuring good jobs for all Minnesotans.' As part of the agreement, UFCW will drop the unfair labor practice charges that were filed during the negotiations. Those charges were the subject of a letter sent to the companies from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in June. UNFI said in a statement to Bring Me The News: "We are pleased to have reached a new collective bargaining agreement with UFCW Local 663. The new agreement includes strong wage increases, continued market leading union health care and significant increases in our contributions to the union's pension plan, while ensuring Cub has the flexibility to continue to meet the needs of the thousands of customers we serve each day." Approximately 2,500 of the unionized Cub workers are employed by UNFI. Earlier this year, UFCW was negotiating new deals for workers with seven grocery companies around the Twin Cities. A contract was ratified in May with Lunds & Byerlys, Jerry's Enterprises, Kowalski's, and Radermacher's Shakopee Cub. A new deal was ratified with Knowlan's Festival Foods in story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Jul 1, 2025, where it first appeared.
Miami Herald
17-06-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Bernie Sanders urges UNFI to negotiate a ‘fair contract' with Cub Foods workers
Dive Brief: Sen. Bernie Sanders has called on United Natural Foods, Inc. as well as two grocery operators to "negotiate in good faith to sign a fair contract" with employees affiliated with United Food and Commercial Workers Local Union 663 after they voted to reject the grocers' contract offers in May. Along with UNFI, the Vermont Democrat senator sent letters to Minneapolis-area grocery operators The Haug's Companies, which runs two supermarkets under UNFI's Cub Foods franchise, and Knowlan's Festival said in an emailed statement it takes Sanders' comments "very seriously" and is in touch with his staff about the ongoing negotiations. Dive Insight: UFCW Local 663 workers at these Minneapolis grocery banners have been working without a contract since March, Sanders wrote in separate letters to the three grocery operators, noting in his letter to UNFI President and CEO of Retail Andre Persaud that this is "absolutely unacceptable." Unionized workers at UNFI/Cubs Foods, Haug's Cub Foods and Knowlan's Festival voted in May to reject contract offers from the grocery companies. That month, the union representing the workers filed unfair labor practice charges that claimed UNFI/Cub Foods failed to bargain in good faith and alleged additional violations of the National Labor Relations Board by Haug's and Knowlan's Festival. According to UFCW Local 663, the contract rejected by workers would have imposed additional healthcare costs on workers, failed to provide livable raises and sought concessions from the unions. UFCW Local 663 represents more than 2,300 workers across 33 UNFI Cub Foods locations, according to the senator's letter to Persaud. "I have personally heard from these workers, who have expressed serious concerns about your company's demands for healthcare concessions and your insistence that workers drop current unfair labor practice charges and grievances – including what I understand to be approximately $2 million in sick time class action grievances alone," Sanders said in the letter to Persaud. He continued: "These unlawful tactics, including refusing to negotiate, threatening workers, and surveilling employees over their union activity, are unacceptable and have prompted the filing of multiple unfair labor practice charges." UNFI said in its emailed statement that it has been negotiating in good faith with UFCW Local 663. "As part of the negotiations, we've offered strong wage increases, continued market leading union health care and significant increases in our contributions to the union's pension plan to help address underfunding and protect the benefits of all participants. It is our strong hope that the union will choose to meet with us to continue negotiations toward a new contract," UNFI said in a statement. The company added that almost 80% of Cub Foods' workforce is unionized. UFCW Local 663 said last month that the companies' conduct "has set the union on a path to potential strikes," which could involve as many as 2,800 workers at 38 stores throughout the Minneapolis area. The threat of a strike is the latest challenge facing UNFI. Early this month, the grocery supplier suffered a cyberattack and is currently relying on manual procedures to receive and fulfill orders from customers after having to entirely shut down its online platform on June 6. Last week, UNFI disclosed that it is mutually ending its relationship with supermarket cooperative Key Food, which includes a $53 million contract termination fee for UNFI. Copyright 2025 Industry Dive. All rights reserved.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Meatpackers ratify new contract with protections against industry deregulation
Meatpacking workers with the UFCW Local 663 have ratified a new contract with JBS Foods in Worthington. Union members are touting contract wins that include improvements in safety, attendance policy, retirement security, and wage increases. Line speed safety protections are also part of the contract, something workers had fought to include. Stewards and other representatives will get joint union-employer training to time and monitor production line work. "These measures empower workers to ensure that line speeds remain within safe limits," the UFCW said in an announcement. "Having all union stewards receive line speed training is very important,' said Brenda Quijano, bargaining committee member and worker in the day kill department in Worthington. "When we can regulate the line speed, it means fewer injuries for us —especially given the four years ahead with Trump weakening our line speed protections. We've improved our own ability to protect ourselves." Union members held a rally in April where workers protested in shifts outside the plant in an attempt to highlight health and safety concerns, as well as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's move to permanently deregulate line speed for pork and poultry production, something that could put the safety of workers at risk. 'At JBS, UFCW Local 663 members have won stronger protections and better working conditions. We know that when jobs are safe and respectful, they become good jobs—jobs that support families and strengthen our communities," UFCW Local 663 President Rena Wong said in a statement. Additionally, the new contract includes a $1.20 per hour wage increase over the three-year term of the contract, as well as the choice to maintain workers' current 401K or enroll in a Variable Annuity Pension Plan. "Our historic agreement with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union provides the first nationwide pension plan for our industry in nearly 50 years," Nikki Richardson of JBS' Corporate Communications tells Bring Me the News. "We are confident that the significant wage increases over the life of the contracts and the opportunity of a secure retirement through our pension plan will create a better future for the men and women who work with us at JBS."
