Foremost Farms employees ratify new contracts

Workers at Foremost Farms facilities in Richland Center and Lancaster voted Thursday to ratify new contracts with the company, a union spokesperson said. Teamsters Local 120, which represents the workers, said the four-year agreements include wage increases of more than 20 percent, better night-shift premiums, expanded benefits, improved health care and a new pay structure. The new deals came weeks after workers at both facilities authorized strikes, claiming that Foremost Farms was trying to cut benefits and worker protections. Teamsters members at a Sparta facility previously owned by Foremost Farms authorized a strike earlier this month, claiming that the facility’s new owners won’t honor a deal struck in March between the union and Foremost.