Hylife Foods negotiations resume

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Published on Thursday, February 19, 2015

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner

Negotiators returned to the bargaining table this week to work out a new deal for workers at Hylife Foods in Neepawa. Local 832 president and lead negotiator Jeff Traeger said face to face discussions resumed on Tuesday, Feb. 17. Traeger noted that both sides remain very optimistic and believe they’re on track to reach a deal within the next few weeks.   

“Negotiations have been productive and both parties are working hard to get the job done,” said Traeger. “It may be that we end up bargaining an extra day or two into the month of March. (It’s) not our preference to do that. We want to get a deal by the end of February. I think that the employer does to.”

In a video recently posted on the UFCW website, Traeger told union members that previous talks in January got a little bogged down at times, but that they were able to move past it and make some decent progress.

“(Recent talks) had been a little frustrating for our bargaining committee because we have been dealing with a very significant list of proposals with the employer. We had about nine proposals in a package and we were simply not able to reach agreement on the final wording for those proposals,” said Traeger. “So, we set those aside on (Jan. 20 and 21). We had very productive days. We actually tabled all of the non-monetary proposals that are left between the parties and reached agreement on a significant number of them.”

The most recent five-year contract expired on Jan. 31, 2015 but remains in effect until a settlement is reached.