After 10 months of deadlock, union and Tyson officials said Monday they will resume negotiations over the labor dispute at the Tyson pepperoni plant in Jefferson, Wis.
Both parties will meet Dec. 18 and 19, according to United Food and Commercial Workers Local 538 member Dick Knapp. UFCW Local 538 President Mike Rice could not be reached for comment, but Tyson spokesperson Ed Nicholson confirmed talks would resume.
Union members went on strike Feb. 28 over a contract offer that included pension freezes, a $2 an hour wage reduction for new hires and a change in health care benefits.
Knapp and Nicholson would not disclose what had changed to break the standoff or on what issues they may now be willing to compromise.
\Negotiations are a complex process. In this case it involves several contract elements, so we're not going to be speculating or commenting on the bargaining process,"" Nicholson said.
Throughout the strike, community members in Jefferson and Madison have bolstered support for the striking workers. Student groups convinced the university to cut its contract for Tyson products this summer, and last week the Board of Regents voted to drop its Tyson bonds from the UW System's investment portfolio.
It remains unclear how public criticism influenced the decision to bring both sides back into talks. As for support from UW System students and administrators, Nicholson said that did not have a clear effect on the decision either. Tyson has about $3.2 billion in debt that is underwritten by bonds like those the regents dropped, but the regents' decision ""didn't have a substantive effect,"" Nicholson said.
After all their time on strike, Knapp said union members reacted cautiously to Monday's announcement.
""People are wanting to be optimistic, but after 10 months people are, you know, 'Is the company really serious?'"" he said. ""We're going to find that out when we go back to the table.""
Student Labor Action Coalition member and UW-Madison junior Charley Hoyt, who, with other SLAC members, worked to get the university to cut its contract also said he received the news with a grain
of salt.
""I'm really afraid [Tyson] is just going to come back to the table with the same proposal they've had before,"" he said.
