Jared McNett
LE MARS, Iowa -- Following a strike that stretched from Thursday evening into Friday evening, Kemps dairy plant workers were back working Saturday as they wait to ratify a proposed settlement with Kemps and Dairy Farmers of America.
The strike ended between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., Friday, according to Adrian Macias, a recording secretary and organizer for Teamsters Local 554 which has been the union backing the 196 employees with the Kemps dairy plant in Le Mars. Union negotiations for a first-ever contract began in March and broke down Aug. 15 when the Kemps employees voted to authorize a strike at Kemps. The strike began at about 6 p.m. Thursday as employees picketed the dairy plant along Lincoln Street Southwest and demanded better wages, benefits, retirement plans and working conditions.
"I think the workers feel relieved and glad the company came back with an hour offer and move forward and let's get this done," Macias said while admitting he and picketing employees had gotten very little sleep over the past few days.
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The next step, Macias said, is a ratification vote with workers on the tentative agreement.
"We want a lot of people to show up because the way it works sometimes is if you don't show up you don't get to vote," Macias said.
As of Saturday morning, terms in the tentative agreement had not been disclosed and a date on the ratification vote had not yet been set. Macias previously shared with The Journal that one worker concern was machines not being fixed properly or in a timely fashion at the Kemps plant. Kemps is a subsidiary of the Dairy Farmers of America who took over the plant five years ago after the bankruptcy and collapse of previous owner Dean Foods. The DFA said previously it was committed to a "respectful, constructive bargaining process."
Before Friday, Le Mars had not seen a walkout in decades. In fact, in the entire Sioux City metro -- the site of bitter labor disputes during the 1970s and 1980s -- there hasn't been a single picket line in years.
The Journal's Mason Dockter contributed to this story.
Business 'Last resort': Kemps workers at Le Mars plant on strike Jared McNett , Mason Dockter
Jared McNett is an online editor and reporter for the Sioux City Journal. You can reach him at 712-293-4234 and follow him on Twitter @TwoHeadedBoy98.
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