It's perhaps inevitable to want to try to draw some parallels between the lockout of sugarbeet workers in the Red River Valley, and the 1985 strike by Hormel workers in Austin, Minn.
Moorhead and Austin: Similarities, differences
Will American Crystal labor lockout divide community?
Both firms are big food industry players. Both are or were major employers, with headquarters in a largely rural setting. And the conflict has flared at a time when organized labor found itself on the defensive. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan had broken the air traffic controllers' union. Nowadays, public sector unions find themselves under attack around the country for pay and benefit packages better than what's typically found in the private sector.
But there are important differences, too.
In Austin, 1,500 meatpackers went on strike; in Moorhead and elsewhere along the Red River Valley, 1,300 workers were locked out by the company, without the threat of a strike vote by the union.
In Austin, the local union refused to accept wages that had been agreed upon at other Hormel plants; in Moorhead, the union voted down a contract that included generous wage increases, but also higher health care costs and weakened job security.
The strike in Austin hurt local businesses, and the lockout of American Crystal's workers will have a similar impact in the affected cities.
We all remember how badly things ended in Austin: Workers began crossing the picket lines after six months, which led to riots and the calling out of the National Guard. The strike officially ended after 10 months, but many never returned to work at Hormel.
Let's hope things don't end up that way along the Red River.