Posts Categorized: Reports

UFCW Local 293 JBS workers ratified a new five-year contract that raises wages and provides free primary health care.

Workers at the JBS beef slaughter and processing facility in Grand Island, Nebraska, who belong to United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 293 ratified a new contract on Thursday, July 17. The new five-year agreement will cover more than 2,600 workers and will go into effect today.

“This new contract is great for our members and the local economy,” said Dan Hoppes, President of UFCW Local 293. “Thanks to support and unity of UFCW union members from across the country, we were able to negotiate a contract that raises the bar for workers in this industry. Workers will earn higher wages and a healthcare plan that benefits workers, their families, and the company.”

The new contract will:

• Provide a $1.80 hourly increase over the course of the contract.
• A $0.60 per hour increase in the first year which will be paid retroactively to the original contract expiration date, April 27, 2014.
• Maintain affordable health care costs for employees with only minor plan changes.
• Establish a primary health care clinic in Grand Island which means flexible, easily accessible health care to JBS employees with no cost for primary care (checkups, some treatments, minor procedures, and lab work) and low cost prescriptions and immunizations.
• Retain current vacation and 401k plan.

The UFCW represents JBS workers at several other locations around the country. Workers have ratified contracts in Worthington, Minnesota, and have reached a tentative agreement in Greeley, Colorado. Contract negotiations are ongoing in Souderton, Pennsylvania, and Louisville, Kentucky. Workers in Omaha, Nebraska will begin negotiations in the coming months.

UFCW members can contact their Congressional representative and ask them to not support funding for the poultry rule that will increase line speeds and could harm workers and consumers.

The USDA is set to publish a rule that would put workers in poultry plants at further risk of injury while slashing oversight and exposing consumers to harmful contaminants.

The poultry industry wants to double the speed at which birds are processed, despite a recent study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health showing that 42 percent of workers have evidence of carpal tunnel syndrome at current line speeds. And it’s not just poultry workers who will be hurt by this industry-backed measure. Under the new rule, poultry companies will be largely responsible for their own inspections, a change food safety advocates say would unnecessarily endanger consumers.

But Congress still has time to act. UFCW members are urged to contact their representatives and tell them to stop the implementation of this reckless rule.

If implemented, the poultry rule would sacrifice the safety of workers and consumers for the sake of the poultry industry’s profits. That is why members need to support Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro’s amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations bill that would prevent funds being used for this purpose.
Working conditions in poultry plants are already dangerous, and speeding up lines without proper staffing levels would make matters worse.

Members can visit http://bit.ly/poultryrule to send a message to their representatives telling them to support DeLauro’s Amendment and halt this dangerous rule.