News Updates
Teamsters to Pilgrim's Pride: 'No Clucking Way'
December 17, 2010(Greeley, Colo.)—The International Brotherhood of Teamsters today told Pilgrim's Pride (NYSE: PPC) “No Clucking Way” the union is going to let the company destroy jobs at its chicken processing and feedmill facilities in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia and Kentucky.
Shareholders attending Pilgrims Pride’s annual shareholders meeting got that message loud and clear when an airplane with a banner that read “No Clucking Way” flew over JBS USA headquarters. JBS USA is a subsidiary of Brazil-based JBS, the world’s largest meat processor. Pilgrim's Pride is a division of JBS.
“The Pilgrim’s Pride division of JBS has declared war on its American workers,” said C. Thomas Keegel, Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer. “It’s not that it can’t afford for its workers to have good healthcare and a dignified retirement. This is a very profitable company and its stock has skyrocketed over the last two years.”
JBS/Pilgrim’s Pride is demanding that its workers allow their employer to make changes to their health care benefits at any time without bargaining with the employees’ representative, and that they accept reduced overtime pay on Sundays and holidays. JBS Pilgrim’s is also attacking workers’ hard-earned retirement benefits and wants to stop paying into their pensions.
"We want Pilgrim's Pride shareholders to know that the dedication of these workers is one of the reasons for this company's success,” said Fred Gegare, Director of the Teamsters Food Processing Division. “It is an insult the way that Pilgrim's Pride is trying to treat the very people whose hard work they depend on as the company grows."
At today’s shareholder meeting, the company will report that it brought in $1.72 billion in the last quarter alone, and that its profits last quarter were 50 percent higher than expected. Their chicken revenues are even expected to grow by as much as 5 percent next year.
Founded in 1903, the Teamsters Union represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
Building a Powerful Future
April 5, 2010Nearly 900 walnut processing workers in Stockton, California made history for a second time when they ratified a new contract on March 24, 2010.
The five-year agreement covers 500 year-round employees and between 300 and 400 seasonal employees. It improves seniority protections, working conditions, wages and benefits with an average wage increase of 2.5 percent for employees.
What makes the contract so special is the fact that it is the second for a group of workers who defied the odds. Workers at Diamond Foods, Inc. took on the company in 1991 when contract negotiations broke down, starting what would become the world’s longest labor strike.
Workers stayed on picket lines for 14 years. The strike ended in 2005 with ratification of the workers’ first five-year contract.
Now that the second contract has been ratified, workers are looking ahead to a bright and promising future.
“The first contract is the foundation. The second contract is the structure that together we will build upon for a powerful future,” said Lucio Reyes, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 601 in Stockton. “This is proof that good-faith bargaining does work.”
Reyes said the second contract was the result of hard work, dedication and solidarity from Diamond Foods workers.
Teamster Mess Hall Workers at West Point Win New Contract
February 17, 2010
Teamsters who work at the Cadet Mess Hall at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point voted unanimously Feb. 11 to ratify a new two-year contract that guarantees them wage increases and a grievance process via their employer.
“This contract was a really tough fight but we were victorious in the end,” said Adrian Huff, Secretary-Treasurer of Local 445 in Newburgh, N.Y.
The contract covers about 160 people, mostly Haitians and Hispanics, who serve as wait staff and cleaners at the Cadet Mess Hall, Huff said. Local 445 has represented these workers for 12 years. The workers are employed by Watson Services, a catering company.
The workers, who make between $12 and $17 per hour, will receive a 65-cents hourly increase and paid birthdays off. Huff said the company at first pushed for only a 10-cent hourly increase, but with the help of Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), the company agreed to raise the hourly increase to 65 cents retroactive to October 1, and another 65 cents this October 1.
Another big gain in the contract is the formation of a grievance process that allows the workers to bring up any bad behavior they encounter from the cadets with Watson Services, Huff said.