COMMERCE : Labor Dispute May Close Zacky Plant

Workers and managers at Zacky Farms have met with a federal mediator in an attempt to keep the poultry packing plant open, but the facility’s fate remains uncertain.

The company suspended operations May 13 and informed the union that because of financial difficulties, the plant would close July 15, a move that union officials said could be a ploy to force the workers to back down on their demand for wage parity.

Negotiations stalled because the company refused to meet union demands that the 136 workers in Commerce be paid the same wages as 1,000 employees who do similar work at the company’s Fresno plant, said Jim Rodriguez, director of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, which represents about 30,000 supermarket, drugstore and packinghouse workers in Los Angeles County.

Commerce employees earn an hourly average of $7.13, Rodriguez said. Fresno employees in similar jobs earn 45 cents more an hour and are due for a raise of 11 cents per hour in August. Company officials told the union that the Commerce plant costs $1.2 million more to operate than the Fresno facility because of aging equipment.

The Commerce plant, at 6101 Sheila St., slaughters and processes roasters and fryers for sale at supermarket deli counters. The Fresno plant processes turkeys, Rodriguez said.

Zacky Farms personnel manager Bill Dukes refused to comment on negotiations or on the company’s financial health. Royce Peterson, the company’s state director of personnel and human resources, could not be reached for comment.

During mediation last week, the company demanded “take-aways and concessions that we couldn’t even consider,” Rodriguez said. The company requested a wage freeze, fewer paid holidays, lower starting pay and other concessions, he said.

The union requested that the company restart operations and allow the employees to return to work during negotiations, but the company refused, Rodriguez said.

Workers attempted to return to the plant on Monday, but were rebuffed by company officials, Rodriguez said.

Commerce employees went on strike May 5 after working without a contract for nine months. They were told that if they did not return to work by May 9, they would be permanently replaced, Rodriguez said.

On May 13, the company notified union officials by fax that plant operations would be suspended effective May 16 and that the plant would close permanently July 15.