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Boycott ACS graphic courtesy of Tildology
In a 3-2 decision, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled yesterday that locked-out American Crystal Sugar workers are owed unemployment benefits. Total benefits owed to workers may be $4 million dollars, but some fear the state legislature may act to block the payments.
Over 1200 workers have been locked out by Crystal Sugar management since August 1, 2011.
This judgement, if the North Dakota legislature (which is currently in session) doesn’t immediately try to block it with a bogus law (and considering that vote-suppression-eager Republicans just pulled the “hog house” stunt in order to smuggle a voter ID law under the radar and without the public’s being allowed to see it, that can’t be ruled out), means that these workers’ lives just got a little better. Keep your fingers crossed!
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Obviously, a lockout the employer not allowing workers to do their jobs, aka a constructive lay off or a constructive firing.
That this decision was even 3-2, instead of unanimous, is a disgrace. However, at least the suit had a correct result. Barely.
The linked article states ACS as a cooperative, obviously another that has been turned to the dark side.
Money wins again.
Yes, the farmers are in full support of screwing the sugar workers (they’re actually driving this lockout). I used to buy Crystal Sugar to support the local beet farmers, now I boycott Crystal Sugar in support of the workers.
I remember reading a story a few years ago about a dairy cooperative in one of the midwestern states that decided it would make more money by importing and rehydrating milk solids as opposed to producing milk itself. It began paying its member farmers less than market price and demanding farmers to cull their herds to complete the transition.
Also the fact that their sugar is produced from sugar beets means GMO, which, of course, means Monsanto. Suffice to say ACS can be viewed as a subsidiary of Monsanto. alan1tx post is evidence of Monsanto buying Dims, surprise!
i’ve been boycotting, too. ND lege sitting on billion dollar surplus, votes Against ending sales tax on clothing, votes against midmorning milk for needy kids, votes against funding flood diversion for state’s biggest city, twisting in the wind…whether to cut personal income tax, whether to cut property tax. also busily butting into our bedrooms.
while ND Senate votes FOR 30% tax cut for out-of-state Big Oil.
ND’s been blue before…. they’ll reap what they’re sowing in 2014 and 2016
a friend posted on fb about a milk coop trying to get FDA to declare aspartame to be an approved hidden additive. WTF are hidden additives doing in any of our foods?
The irony is that the farmers (and everyone else) loves them some socialism when it directly benefits them. That’s why North Dakota’s biggest bank is a state-owned enterprise, as is the leading grain elevator.
It was their great grandparents who had the foresight to give them that legacy (that’s a wikipedia link, and fwiw, all the places it says “citation needed” are all true). The problem is, is that if their great grandparents were alive today, they’d all be called pinko socialists by their own family