WestFarm calling back employees after dairy workers OK pact

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WestFarm Foods yesterday said it will be calling its employees throughout the Memorial Day weekend about returning to work, ending one of the longest labor disputes in Seattle.

Members of Teamsters Local 66 voted 101-43 to accept a new three-year contract that cut wages and gave the maker of Darigold milk, butter and ice cream the ability to hire nonunion workers. The vote Wednesday came nine months after the more than 200 workers were locked out of processing plants in Seattle and Issaquah.

The two sides had been negotiating since June 10 to replace a contract that expired July 31. The company and workers argued over wages and benefits, including changes in medical benefits and pensions.

The company locked out the workers Aug. 31, after union members rejected a proposed new contract by 4-to-1.

John Underwood, chief executive and president of WestFarm Foods, said yesterday at a news conference that the called-back workers will start training classes to learn updated plant procedures for new equipment installed since the lockout.

Underwood couldn't say how many workers would be called back. He also was unsure of the status of the 60 people who worked during the lockout.

He said seasonal demand for products such as ice cream would dictate when workers would come back. "But I believe all of the (Local) 66 workers will be employed prior to the replacement workers," Underwood said.

He said it's time for the dairy company to take a final look "in the rear-view mirror and to get everyone involved in moving the company forward."

"It has been very difficult on all parties, the Local 66 union members, the other employees of WestFarm Foods and the 690 dairy farmers who own our cooperative," said Underwood, a company vice president who became CEO on April 1.

A WestFarm spokeswoman said the company is waiting for the board of directors to approve the settlement.

For the workers who've been picketing outside the dairy plants and boycotting Darigold products, the lockout created many hardships. Garnet Zimmerman, vice president of Teamsters International, said he opposed the offer.

"If this agreement had been presented two months into the dispute, no one would have accepted," he said. "But now it's been nine months, and after seeing people lose their homes, cars and families breaking up there was no other choice."

He said that during earlier negotiations, the union had wanted to increase hourly wages by about 35 cents over the three-year period. Instead, they agreed to a wage cut after a federal mediator was brought in.

Most of the workers involved in the labor dispute made about $50,000 a year, Underwood said.

Levi J. Long: 206-464-2061 or levilong@seattletimes.com