Tentative settlement for Dairigold workers, other talks continue
Monday, August 4, 2003 8:39 AM PDT
By Associated Press
Printable version
E-mail this articleLYNDEN, Wash. (AP) -- Tentative agreement has been reached on a three-year contract covering about 65 Darigold production workers in Lynden and Chehalis, potentially averting a strike threat.
Talks were continuing with Teamsters union officials representing a larger number of workers in Issaquah and Seattle, WestFarm Foods spokeswoman Rae Klein said.
WestFarm is owned by 722 dairy farmers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Northern California and produces Darigold milk, butter and other products.
Net profits last year amounted to $2.3 million on net sales of $1.1 billion, and the company has been trying to cut costs because of intense competition and declining demand for milk, Klein said.
A key issue in the talks has been the company's desire to switch to its own health plan, which now covers nonunion workers, from a Teamsters plan that union officials say provides better coverage.
The tentative settlement that was reached Thursday covers 43 workers represented by Teamsters Local 252 in Chehalis, and 22 at the powdered milk operation in Lynden.
Details were withheld, but Chuck Eggert, secretary-treasurer of Local 231, said the union made "zero concessions."
Teamsters officials were reviewing the proposed contract and a ratification vote is expected within 10 days, Eggert said late Thursday.
Talks were continuing for workers represented by Teamsters Local 66 at a creamery in Issaquah and a laboratory and office complex in Seattle.
The company is seeking to outsource warehouse work in Issaquah and trucking in Seattle, potentially putting some employees out of work or forcing them to transfer to another company.
Before the settlement covering Lynden and Chehalis, WestFarm reported getting nearly 800 applications for replacement jobs in the event of a strike by about 500 union workers there and in Issaquah, Seattle and Sunnyside.
"There were several times, when I thought 'We're going to have a work stoppage, a lockout or a strike,"' Eggert said. "But they kept coming back to us. Then both sides blinked and got together and said 'How about this?"'
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