SOUTH BAY, Fla. (AP) -- About 650 Florida Crystal Corp. workers went on strike Tuesday after negotiations stalled between the Palm Beach County sugar grower and the union at its Okeelanta mill.þþUnion workers and the company, a major sugar producer, have been negotiating a new three-year contract since late October but remain at odds over proposals to outsource the company's 182 hauling jobs, eliminate overtime pay in the farm department and raise copays for health benefits.þþ``This contract that's on the table would hurt every member of this lodge,'' said Javier Almazan, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 2152.þþThe union represents about 900 workers, including welders, assembly line operators, truck drivers and farm laborers. Members voted Wednesday to strike after rejecting the company's latest proposal.þþA Florida Crystal spokesman said the company, owned by the Fanjul family of Palm Beach, is trying to keep pace in a struggling industry.þþ``To be competitive, we've got to do what the rest of the industry is doing,'' Gaston Cantens, a former state representative, told The Palm Beach Post. Cantens did not immediately return a phone call to The Associated Press Tuesday.þþ``When the industry has done well, the company has always tried to provide as much benefits as possible to the employees,'' he told the newspaper. ``But now, there's lots of uncertainty, especially with the hurricanes bringing the yield down. We don't know what's going to happen over the next couple years.''þþA few hundred workers picketed outside the gates of the mill Tuesday morning and Almazan estimated that ``maybe 100'' union workers crossed picket lines. Union leaders said the company bused in outside workers to keep the plant running.þþCantens told the newspaper the mill would rely on nonunion workers to keep operating.þþA federal mediator was brought in last week. Company and union officials have not met since the vote, but both sides have said they are willing to continue negotiations.þþJoe Kyles, the local's chief negotiator, said both sides are ``very far apart'' but expressed optimism that they could resume discussions.þþFlorida Crystal operates three sugar mills; Okeelanta is the largest with a capacity of 22,000 tons per day. The comapny farms nearly 180,000 acres of land and, in addition to sugar, operates a rice mill and a packaging and distribution center.þþþþ
Source: NY Times
