President Dan Ross, Jr. conducted an interview with LancasterOnline to keep the public informed about the status of the Kunzler plant, which was published on Monday evening.

Part of the article reads:

United Food & Commercial Workers Local 152 President Daniel Ross Jr. said the union sent Clemens a five-page letter with questions regarding the future of the Lancaster city plant. (…)

“Both Chris Kunzler III and Clemens Food Group represented to us and the employees at the time of the acquisition that the Lancaster plant would continue to operate providing jobs for the hardworking men and women who helped make the business successful over many, many years,” Ross said. (…)

“Local 152 sincerely hopes the Clemens family will value the livelihood of working families in Lancaster over corporate profits.”

Read the article in its entirety on the LancasterOnline website.

As promised, your Union has delivered a five-page, detailed information request to Clemens Food Group.

You can read the formal request in its entirety by clicking here.

We will continue to keep you updated.

We are stronger together.

Here is a snippet of the five-page request:

“Dear Mr. Jackson:

As you know, this firm represents UFCW Local 152. The parties are currently negotiating a successor Collective Bargaining Agreement. During Wednesday’s negotiations session, Clemens Food Group communicated to the Union for the first time its intention to discontinue production of certain products at the Kunzler & Company, Inc. Lancaster, PA facility, and the potential sale of the former Kunzler Lancaster, PA facility that the Company recently acquired.

Local 152 expressed its deep concerns about these decisions and the failure of the Company to fully communicate this information previously. Specifically, prior to yesterday’s announcement the Company represented its intention to maintain and invest in operations at the Kunzler facility and to continue the employment of bargaining unit employees. It is now apparent that the Company fully misrepresented its intentions and likely planned from the outset to retaliate against Local 152 members by transferring bargaining unit work.

As such, please accept this as a formal request for information regarding the Company’s acquisition of Kunzler and the unilateral decision to cease production of certain operations in the Kunzler Lancaster, Pennsylvania facility, as well as the potential sale of former Kunzler Lancaster, Pennsylvania facility.

I. Information Requests Regarding the Acquisition of Kunzler’s Assets
(…)

II. Information Requests Regarding Cessation or Transfer of Production of Pork Products and/or “Branded Hotdogs”
(…)

III. Information Requests Regarding the Sale of Kunzler’s Pennsylvania Locations
(…)

You are required to provide this information as part of your obligation to bargain with the Union as the employees’ certified representative; your failure to provide this information as requested would violate the National Labor Relations Act. Please provide the requested information within seven (7) days of the date of this correspondence. Local 152 expressly reserves any and all rights relative to this matter including, but not limited to, challenging any decision by the Company to transfer and/or eliminate bargaining unit work and laying off bargaining unit employees as violative of the CBA and Federal labor law. Local 152 also reserves the right to propound supplemental requests for information.

Very truly yours,
O’BRIEN, BELLAND & BUSHINSKY, LLC”

On June 26, your negotiating committee met with Clemens Foods Group to resume bargaining for a new contract.

Sadly, Clemens announced a plan to move pork processing to their Hatfield, PA facility and the Kunzler brand hot dogs to an unidentified co-packer. Clemens claims that the Aldi, Perdue, and Sheetz products will continue to be produced in your Lancaster, PA facility. This will result in a reduction of at least 60 jobs for working families. Furthermore, Clemens stated that the Lancaster plant is back up for sale.

This news is troubling and not how the future of your plant was explained to you or your local union leadership. All the rhetoric of “family values”  seems to have been replaced with corporate bottom-line initiatives.  What holds true for the future of your plant?

Upon receiving this news, Local 152 President Daniel Ross Jr. called former CEO Chris Kunzler III to “share” this update, since Chris had given his word that Clemens had the best interests of the workers who dedicated their working lives to the Kunzler family.

Shockingly, Chris responded, “That’s how it goes… why are you calling me?”

President Ross made it clear that while Kunzler may have “cashed out” and abandoned his employees, Local 152 is preparing to do everything in its power to protect the interest of the dedicated workers that made him a multi-millionaire!

Your union is preparing a formal information request to send to Clemens regarding its intentions.  We will aggressively pursue this request and provide an update as soon as possible.

More info to come.  Stay strong.

Your union negotiating committee will resume negotiations with Clemens Food Group today, Wednesday, June 26th.

Your Union requested crew sizes for each department to ensure proper staffing and less use of temporary workers. Overuse of temporary workers has many negative effects on your working conditions. Clemens committed to bringing in process engineers to determine appropriate departmental crew sizes.

We anticipate having productive discussions at the bargaining table. Stay tuned for additional updates.

Last week, UFCW Local 152 Executive Vice President Lisa Sanders, Union Representative Greg Torian, and Chief Steward Amy Carns met with Clemens Food Group’s Senior Vice President and Director of Human Resources.

Clemens Food Group (CFG) believes the purchase of the Kunzler brand and Lancaster facility has the potential to offer new products to customers and expand the business. CFG will be evaluating the facility’s efficiencies over the next few months.

It was explained in the meeting that Local 152 members at Kunzler have a strong contract that has been negotiated over many years. CFG acknowledged your contract, and negotiations will continue as planned on May 21 and 23.

Your union leadership remains cautiously optimistic and will continue to look out for your best interest as this transition unfolds!

Update 1:

On Tuesday, May 7th, UFCW Local 152 President Daniel Ross, Jr. conducted an interview with LancasterOnline about the acquisition of Kunzler, which was published at 12:30pm.

Part of the article reads:

…Ross said Local 152 had been in several negotiation sessions with Kunzler for a successor contract and there had been no mention of the acquisition. 

Ross said the union immediately followed up with communication to Kunzler asking that it be forwarded to the new owners.  He asked to schedule an introductory meeting and to continue negotiations. 

“Local 152 has valued a partnership with Kunzler & Co. which has developed over the many years of collective bargaining,” Ross said. “Local 152 intends to protect the interests of our hardworking members of the community who’ve provided dedicated service to Kunzler & Co. for many years.”

You can read the full article on the LancasterOnline website.

Update #2:

On Friday, May 3rd, UFCW Local 152 President Daniel Ross, Jr. sent the following letter in response to yesterday’s acquisition letter. You can read the letter in its entirety below.

The letter reads:

“Dear Mr. Kunzler:

We have received the announcement regarding the acquisition of Kunzler and Company by Clemens Food Group which is scheduled to take place on May 6, 2024. As you know, Local 152 values the strong partnership with Kunzler which has developed over the many years of our collective bargaining relationship. We look forward to continuing that partnership with Clemens. To that end, please advise of the appropriate contact at Clemens so that we can schedule an introductory meeting and prepare to continue our negotiations for a successor Collective Bargaining Agreement. It is our desire to work with both Kunzler and Clemens during the transition to protect the interests of Local 152’s members who provide dedicated service to the Company.

Very truly yours,
Daniel Ross, Jr.
President”

On Wednesday, May 1st, UFCW Local 152 received several phone calls from members about an acquisition rumor.

Later that night, the Local received correspondence from Kunzler informing us of the company’s intention to be acquired by Clemens Food Group just five days later, on May 6th, 2024, which you can view below. This was the first time the Local had heard of the acquisition.

The letter reads:

“We would like to inform the union of an acquisition that will take place on May 6.
Clemens Food Group (CFG) will acquire Kunzler & Company (Kunzler).

Clemens Food Group and Kunzler & Company share many similar characteristics.

• • Both companies are long-standing, family-owned with reputations of producing high quality meats for their customers.
  • We are culturally aligned with family, employee, and business values.
  • Our organizations have been working together for a very long time and we have the utmost respect for each other’s approach to business.

Clemens plans to carry on our long-standing, family-owned reputation for producing high quality meats for our customers.”

Impact

When acquisitions happen, we understand that the first thing everyone wants to know is, “How will this impact me?”

Rest assured that UFCW Local 152 plans to keep you informed every step of the way.