Locked Out American Crystal Workers Take to Football Stadiums

• FILE - Worker Outside Moorhead Plant

In this file photo taken Sept. 2, 2011, David Stearns stands outside the American Crystal Sugar plant on the 33rd day that workers have been locked out of the Moorhead, Minn., facility. With the lockout of about 1,300 American Crystal Sugar Co. workers entering its second month and no negotiations in sight, the company is ready to start the harvest season with inexperienced replacement workers. (AP Photo/Dave Kolpack)

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(AP) — Locked out workers from American Crystal Sugar say they'll distribute leaflets outside weekend football games to get out the union's message.

Union President Mark Froemke tells KFGO radio (http://bit.ly/qMhd9y) that members will be outside the Minnesota Gophers game on Saturday and the Minnesota Vikings game on Sunday. The leaflets tell people how to get more information using a smart phone or computer.

About 1,300 regular workers have been locked out since Aug. 1 after the union and management could not agree on a contract. The company has begun cutting beets at plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa with replacement workers.

American Crystal Sugar had offered a 17 percent pay increase over five years during negotiations, but workers were upset about provisions covering job security and health care costs.

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