Posts Categorized: Packing and Processing

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a set of first-round investments under their Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program. $73 million will be invested across 21 grant projects with the goal of increasing competition and expanding meat and poultry processing capacity in the United States.

“As America’s meatpacking and food processing union, UFCW applauds the Biden Administration and the Department of Agriculture for working to improve capacity and create a fairer, more diverse meat and poultry industry,” said UFCW International President Marc Perrone in a statement.

“The investments announced this week through the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program are admirable, but they’re missing a crucial focus: workers.

“Any attempt to expand or improve this industry moving forward must include specific provisions for fair labor standards that protect workers and safeguards the hard-fought protections they’ve already won at unionized processing facilities around the country. The goal of expanding capacity and diversifying the amount of producers in the industry is naturally aligned with the needs of the workforce who will ultimately make these operations run.

“Let’s not leave those processing and agriculture workers behind and diligently build programs that prioritize their needs too.”

Approximately 1100 members of UFCW Local 455 who work at Pilgrim’s Pride in Nacogdoches, Texas ratified a new contract on Oct. 5th that increases wages and improves overtime benefits. Pilgrim’s Pride is one of the world’s largest poultry producers as well as a fully integrated pork producer. Workers in this unit cover everything from maintenance (refrigeration, electrician, general maintenance) to production (de-boning, re-hanging, etc.) and as essential workers kept America fed during the pandemic.

The three-year contract includes year one wage increases of one dollar and fifty cents per hour retroactive from the expiration of the previous contract, introduction of a one dollar per hour attendance incentive, daily overtime now after 9 hours of work in a single workday, and guaranteed wage increases for the entire bargaining unit in year two and three of the CBA.

“I’m proud of the hard work our members do at this facility and the sacrifices they and their families made to earn an agreement like this,” said UFCW Local 455 President Brandon Hopkins. “Solidarity works and contracts like these prove that! I would also like to thank the local union staff, stewards, and rank & file negotiating committee for standing strong and making this agreement possible.”