Union workers at a big JBS USA pork processing plant in Worthington, Minn., have ratified a new contract about a month after authorizing a strike.
The five-year contract covers about 1,800 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1161. The deal will provide wage increases of 12.8 percent over five years, and includes a retroactive pay increase for hours worked since the previous contract expired June 30, 2013, the union said Friday.
The union also said that under the new contract, it would retain its current 401(k) plan and maintain affordable health care costs for employees with only minor health plan changes.
"This is a great agreement, not only for JBS workers but the entire Worthington community," Mike Potter, Local 1161's president, said in a statement.
A month ago, Local 1161 authorized a strike, saying that JBS was offering workers no wage increases and deep cuts in health care. Greeley, Colo.-based JBS USA is a subsidiary of the Brazilian meat-industry giant JBS.
Mike Hughlett
