Illinois Manufacturing Workers Win Multiyear Fight for First Contract

Commitment and persistence helped oppressed workers at an eastern Illinois manufacturing plant, pictured here before its 2024 purchase by Conagra, successfully organize with Danville Local 538 and ratify a first contract.

November 8, 2024

An arduous five-year campaign to achieve IBEW representation is successful at last for the more than 160 men and women who work at a Conagra cooking spray manufacturing plant in eastern Illinois, after they ratified a collective bargaining agreement between Danville Local 538 and the North American food conglomerate.

Most of their struggle, though, hadn’t been with Conagra, which completed its purchase of the factory only a couple of months earlier.

“The initial conversations with Conagra, before even getting to the bargaining table, were a breath of fresh air,” said Local 538 Business Manager Aaron Goodrum.

Rather, campaign organizers agreed that most of the problems stemmed from the oppressive opposition to unionization of the previous owner, Full-Fill Industries, a family-owned company founded in the village of Henning in 1999.

A string of factory closures left Full-Fill one of a few area employers, with workers relating stories of sweatshop-style working conditions, draconian management, low pay and rapid turnover. In 2019, a majority of fed-up Full-Fill workers voted to organize with Local 538.

The company’s managers, though, refused to bargain for a first contract and even withdrew recognition of Local 538 a year later.

FULL story: https://www.ibew.org/media-center/Articles/24Daily/2411/241108_Manufacturing-Workers