Locked Out American Crystal Sugar Workers Launch QR Campaign

by Laura Clawson for Daily Kos Labor

American Crystal Sugar has locked out 1,300 workers after they rejected its contract offer by a nine to one margin. Now, the workers, members of the Bakery, Confectionery Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union,

[...] have launched the first-known union quick response (QR) code campaign to educate consumers and the general public about the lockout. This week, the workers will hand out fliers with the code in major cities in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa, the states where they are locked out.

The QR code takes you to a website featuring the video above. During the lockout, the company has hired replacement workers:

Fires occurred last week at the Drayton and East Grand Forks plants, which Riskey said are due to an untrained workforce.

“When you put poorly trained replacement workers into these facilities, preventable accidents can and will happen,” he said. “By using poorly trained replacement workers from outside the region, American Crystal Sugar is gambling both with safety and the economic success of this year’s harvest.