American Crystal Sugar Union Members Vote on Contract

MOORHEAD (AP) - Hundreds of union workers at American Crystal Sugar Company will soon cast their vote on a new labor contract.

The voting Thursday covers about 1,200 employees at sugar refinery plants in Moorhead, Crookston and East Grand Forks, Minnesota and Hillsboro and Drayton in North Dakota _ and at storage facilities in Chaska, Minnesota and Mason City, Iowa.?

Members of the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers local are voting on a contract that includes a 3 percent raise the first four years and a 2.7 percent hike the last year.

The union says American Crystal has also added a signing bonus of $2,250. If the contract is rejected, the bonus would not be part of future negotiations.

Failed contract negotiations in 2011 ended in a union lockout that lasted two years.