FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2002 Contact: Jill Cashen, (202) 728-4797 or Alex Hamilton, UFCW Local 392, 410-837-0848

Domino Sugar Turns Sour on Long Term Workers
Baltimore Sugar Workers Launch Front Line Fight For Family Health Care And Retirement Security

Picket Lines Up at Domino Sugar Plant

The holiday season turned bitter and cold for 330 Domino's sugar workers on Sunday, December 8, 2002 when the company forced workers on strike. The workers, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 392, put up picket lines on Sunday to protect their family's health insurance and retirement security.

We won't let Domino destroy our retirement plans like Enron and WorldCom. Workers deserve a secure pension, not an insecure future, said Alex Hamilton, a 32-year sugar worker and President of UFCW Local 392.

Domino refuses to provide basic financial information on the pension plans, essentially expecting workers to turn over their money with no more than a wink and a nod to count on. The company's proposals for retirement and health benefits include no guarantees.

Domino Sugar trashed the bargaining process by offering a final proposal that included huge cuts to benefits and working conditions, then cut off negotiations by taking a week-long trip to Europe. Meanwhile, 330 workers are in the cold and on the streets fighting for their future. The National Labor Relations Board is investigating charges of bad faith bargaining by Domino Sugar.

Workers overwhelmingly rejected the company's proposals to:

Shift their retirement funds to an unknown company-run pension. Domino refused to provide any basic financial information about its proposed plan.

Increase the cost of family health insurance and reduce the quality of insurance.

Cut holidays including Veteran's Day. Many of the workers have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Job changes that reduce wages and benefits for all new hires.

Jeopardize job security for the long-time workers.
For the past fifty-three years, workers and management have enjoyed a positive relationship without any major work stoppage. Domino is owned by the Florida-based American Sugar Refining, the single largest marketer of refined sugar in the United States.

The UFCW Local 392 is reaching out to consumers to support these hard-working families and not to buy the listed sugar products this holiday season. Products on the Do Not Buy list are: Domino Sugar, America's Choice, Best Yet, Eagle, Food Service, Foodland, Giant, Great Value, Kroger, Jack Frost, Mars, Murry's, Pathmark, Price-Rite, Richfood, Safeway, Shaw's, Stop & Shop, Sunny Cane, Super G, Sweet Harvest, Sysco, Weis.

The Domino sugar workers are on today's frontline against corporate greed. The 1.4 million members of the UFCW International Union are standing with these workers. We won't let Domino destroy these families' lives," said Mark Lauritsen, UFCW International Vice President and Regional Director.

The UFCW represents workers in supermarkets across the country as well as food processing, meat packing, chemical, distillery, garment and health care facilities.

Source