For the first time in more than two decades, union workers at the Domino Sugar plant in South Baltimore went on strike, after rejecting a proposed contract that would have altered their pension plan and reduced the number of holidays.
About 330 of the plant's 500 workers walked off the job at the plant, which refines, packages and ships Domino-branded sugar and syrup.
Union officials said yesterday that sugar refining at the 80-year-old plant has come to a halt. A company official disputed that, saying the plant was still operating, although he declined to discuss specifics.
The strike is the first public sign of the uneasy relationship between the union and the plant's new owners, American Sugar Refining Co., which bought it in November last year for more than $165 million. The plant, with its Inner Harbor location and 120-foot red neon sign, is one of Baltimore's most recognized landmarks.
Brothers Alfonso and J. "Pepe" Fanjul, Cuban exiles who rebuilt their sugar company after fleeing to the United States, are majority owners in American Sugar, one of the country's dominant sugar producers. The company effectively controls every facet of the sugar business, from planting and harvesting to refining, packaging and distribution.
Union officials said yesterday that the dispute is centered around the company's proposal to eliminate two paid holidays - Veterans Day and New Year's Eve - and changes in the pension program and health care costs.
The company offered a 2 percent wage increase for each of the three years. Union members rejected the proposal Sunday, 263 to 3, the union said. They then voted 252 to 16 to go out on strike.
The union's previous three-year contract expired Saturday morning at 12:01 a.m. After the strike vote, union members began forming picket lines in front of the plant.
"They feel very strongly about it," said Alex Hamilton, a 32-year plant worker and president of Local 392, which is part of the United Food & Commercial Workers International union. "When people vote to strike this time of year, with holidays right around the corner, it must be an issue."
Donald Brainard, American Sugar's vice president of human resources, said there were 10 or 11 negotiation sessions. Negotiations concluded Friday after the company presented the union with its best offer, he said.
"We were the ones making significant movements" during negotiations, Brainard said. "The union is still very close to their opening proposal. There's been very little movement off of that."
Hamilton said the union didn't have an opportunity to respond to a Thursday proposal before the company came back Friday with another one, which he said was worse than the previous contract offer.
"They gave us two proposals in a row without us giving them feedback," he said.
Statement by union
In a statement yesterday, the union said the company has not provided basic financial information about a proposal to shift the workers' pension to another company-run plan.
The union is also opposed to the company's proposal that would require workers for the first time to pay a share of their health care costs: $50 a month for family coverage in the first year, $75 in the second and $100 in the third year.
Brainard declined to talk about the specific issues under negotiation.
American Sugar also owns sugar refineries in Brooklyn and Yonkers, N.Y., and Chalmette, La. Brainard declined to say if workers from other plants were brought in to work at the Baltimore plant.
The last strike at the Domino plant was in October 1981 when 100 workers staged a walkout one week before contract negotiations were set to begin. That strike ended the same day.
Dozen picket entrance
Yesterday, about a dozen workers marched at the plant's entrance at 1100 East Key Highway. Workers signed up for four-hour shifts on the picket line, which will go on all day and night at the plant.
"We purposely kept [the number of picketers] to a minimum because we didn't want to create a big fuss out there," said Mark Lauritsen, the UFCW's Mid-Atlantic regional director, who is helping to organize the strike.
Trucks continued to enter and leave the plant's grounds yesterday morning and afternoon.
Two company security guards with video cameras recorded the workers, who marched in a circle on the icy street and carried signs.
'Not happy about it'
Workers' pay ranges from $13 to $21 an hour, the union's Hamilton said. The UFCW's strike fund will provide workers with up to $60 a week.
Michael Custis, a 12-year employee with three children, was walking the picket line yesterday with his wife, Tammy.
"We're not happy about it, but Tammy's still making money ... we got some income coming in," said Custis, a 36-year-old machine attendant who lives in Rosedale.
"I'm just out here because I figured all the union people should stick together."