Upset Workers Picket at Major Colorado Dairy Facility

Meadow Gold Dairy moves dairy products from metro Denver across Colorado, providing milk for public schools as far away as the San Luis Valley. However, the relationship between Meadow Gold labor and ownership is getting sour.

Workers for the dairy facility are currently bargaining for a new contract, but they believe management is dragging its feet. Unionized through Teamsters Local 455, workers held a practice picket today, April 24, at the Englewood facility.

Workers joked that despite working in the dairy industry, today they were "lactose free." Their goal was to show that Meadow Gold workers are serious about demands for safeguards against automation, workplace safety initiatives and improved wages and pensions.

“They need to see the drivers and the warehouse standing out there together and know that it's a common fight,” says Randy Tidd, a 25-year Meadow Gold semi truck transport driver. “It's not just for this location, either. There's a lot of brothers and sisters across this country right now that either are, or will shortly be, negotiating with DFA.”

Meadow Gold is a subsidiary of Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). Along with the workers at Meadow Gold, eighteen other DFA subsidiaries across the country are bargaining on new contracts, as well. Over 2,000 workers will be impacted by the new contracts.

Meadow Gold's contract with the union runs until April 30. Negotiations for a new one are ongoing but moving slowly, Tidd says.

The dairy provider's distribution footprint in Colorado covers almost all public school districts in metro Denver as well as schools in Greeley, Colorado Springs and Grand Junction. In addition, Tidd distributes products to a wholesale driver in the San Luis Valley to serve schools in Alamosa and other small towns in the area.

The company is made up of warehouse workers who process dairy products and drivers who cart products from Englewood to other parts of the state. Part of the reasoning behind the picket was further connecting the two sectors of workers.

“It’s really a way of bringing the employees together and giving them a sense of where we're at,” says Richard Montoya, a delivery driver for Meadow Gold who brings dairy products to Jefferson County Public Schools. “Everybody is probably uncomfortable or nervous about what's going on during this time, so it's just a time to show unity and strength. We're all in the same boat.”

Montoya and Tidd both enjoy their jobs, but say it can be physically draining. They are grateful for the hourly limits upheld by the United States Department of Transportation and hope improved safety protocols will also be part of the new union contract.

Meadow Gold was purchased by DFA in 2021 after former owner Dean Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy two years prior.

At the time, the Meadow Gold workers made compromises on their contract to help ease the transition. According to Tidd, their pension fund took a big hit. Additionally, the workers took on more of their own health insurance costs and agreed to smaller raises.

Now that DFA has had time to settle in, the workers are hoping to regain what they lost.

“We had monies taken away from us and we're just trying to be made whole,” Montoya says.

That is also the case at many of the other dairies bargaining with DFA through the Teamsters right now, according to Teamsters spokesperson Matt McQuaid.
Along with asking for those concessions back, workers want to be sure they are paid enough to afford Denver’s cost of living, so they don’t have to live too far from the Meadow Gold plant. But before they could even begin to bargain on economics, the workers had to sort out several non-economic issues with their employer, which took much longer than usual, according to Tidd.

“I've been through negotiations quite a few times,” says Tidd, a Teamster for 34 years. “Usually, that's just a bunch of smiles and handshakes. This time it was a lot of back and forth.”

A big concern for the dairy workers is job security as automation and AI encroach on their industry. Both warehouse workers and drivers could be at risk of being replaced by automated technologies, leaving them out of work, Tidd and Montoya say.

“We do want language that will help protect our jobs,” Tidd says.

In addition to protections around AI and automation, safety measures like what constitutes an emergency for the workplace also took time to iron out, workers say. Because of the slow pace of negotiations, Tidd and Montoya both doubt the new contract will be ready by April 30 when the current contract expires.

Tidd says the workers hope to reach an agreement that protects union members in a timely fashion; the last thing they want is a work stoppage, especially during the school year. If there isn’t an agreement by May 5 a strike becomes a possibility, according to McQuaid, but Tidd and Montoya both hope to avoid any work stoppages.

“It does absolutely nobody any good for the company not to move things a lot faster, not only here in Colorado, but across the country,” Montoya says. “A work stoppage is going to hurt everybody in the long run, including our large customers. It's just not a good business practice.”

Tidd says the workers are inclined to work with DFA rather than striking because they know how many people rely on dairy, so they hope their show of unity on April 24 made an impression.

DFA did not reply to a request for comment.