Central Minnesota Grocery Workers Call For Pre-Christmas Strike

BRAINERD (WJON News) - More than 650 Central Minnesota grocery store workers will hit the picket line in the days before Christmas.

Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663 have filed their intention to hold a four-day Unfair Labor Practice strike from December 22nd through the 25th.

Get our free mobile app

The strike will affect:

• Quisberg’s Cub Foods in Brainerd and Baxter,
• SuperValu in Pequot Lakes,
• Miner’s Super One Foods in Baxter and Crosby.

Workers have been without a contract since December 3rd, and are negotiating for better pay and benefits.

In a statement on YouTube, UFCW Local 663 members explained their case:

Last week, our coworkers stood together and demonstrated our power as a union and voted to authorize a strike. Quisberg’s and Miner’s have engaged in unfair labor practices meant to stop us from exercising our rights, despite our tireless efforts to serve customers every day. We keep Cub Foods, Super One, and SuperValu running through the busy holiday seasons, and customers notice. We are proud of the communities we serve. The decision to call a strike is not an easy one to make. It is always a last resort. However, we have to stand up for our rights as essential workers.

Union officials claim Quisberg’s and Miner’s have engaged in unfair business practices and workers have experienced interrogation, surveillance, and intimidation as they exercised their right to participate in protected concerted activity.

READ RELATED ARTICLES

• NDSU Announces Tuition Waiver for MN Students
• U of M Campus Voted Least Fashionable
• Man Charged After Incident at Minnesota Nudist Resort