Dave Vang, finance professor at the University of St. Thomas Opus College of Business, recently spoke with KARE 11 about contract negotiations happening in Austin, Minnesota, where Hormel meatpacking workers are demanding higher wages after the company made record profits.
From the story:
The Hormel workers marched on Labor Day to highlight their demands – including higher wages and pensions after they said Hormel made record profits. The UFCW says Hormel’s gross profits reached $2.052 billion over the past 12 months.
The Austin plant employs over 1,700 UFCW members, according to the union.
Dave Vang is a professor of finance at the University of St. Thomas.
“Given what happened last time in the ’80s, I think there’s going to be a tremendous amount of resistance on the part of the union to even allow that to happen,” said Vang. ...
However, Vang says if there is a strike, Minnesota might see the price of meat go up, and growers may feel the pain, too.
“Some farmers may find a little bit of disruption in trying to find someone who’s going to take their cattle for slaughter, and so forth,” said Vang.
