On August 26, around 150 workers at Farmer John Food Service in Vernon voted to stand together for a voice at work with United Food and Commerical Workers (UFCW) Local 770. The workers at the plant, wholly owned by Hormel Foods, mostly make pre-cooked sausage and bacon.
“We needed a union because there was no respect in our workplace,” said Maria Alonzo, who works in the pre-cooked sausage department at Farmer John Food Service. “All of us that believed and wanted a union stood strongly together although the company tried to intimidate us.”
Workers at the sister Farmer John plant, literally across the street, engaged in a multi-year battle for recognition and a good contract with UFCW Local 770. With that victory under their belt, the new union activists weren’t content to rest on their laurels. Instead, they held meetings, signed petitions and talked to their coworkers at Farmer John Food Service about forming a union at their work.
After five months of challenges and appeals from the company, the NLRB in Washington DC certified the election results on December 31st. The workers have selected their negotiations committee and negotiations are expected to commence in late February.
The Farmer John Food Service workers join more than a quarter-million UFCW members in the union for food processing and meat packing workers across North America. They also are part of a union that includes almost 7,000 other Hormel workers.
