HANOVER, Pa. (WHTM) — Nearly 300 Hanover Foods workers who process and package green beans and other vegetables at a facility here could strike as soon as Aug. 2, their union leader said Monday.

Employees have been working under the terms of their old agreement, which expired Dec. 31, 2023. Wendell Young, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1776, said that fact alone isn’t unusual. So what is, in his view?

“This employer has taken a decidedly harsh tone in negotiations,” Young said. “They want to terminate the employees’ pension plan. They want to terminate their health benefits” in addition to offering 2% raises at a time when overall inflation has remained closer to 4% — “outright mean,” Young said.

Employees at the Hanover facility get their health and pension benefits through the union; the company pays most of the cost of those benefits.

Young said the company wants to replace its contributions to the union’s defined-benefit pension plan (a traditional pension, through which employees are promised monthly payments for the rest of their lives) with smaller company matches to a defined-contribution 401k plan — and replace the union health plan with a company one that would expose employees to significantly higher healthcare costs. And he accused the company of “slow-walking” the negotiations by scheduling infrequent bargaining sessions and sometimes canceling them or limiting them in duration.

Hanover Foods said the union — not the company — is the side being unreasonable.

“Hanover Foods is committed to fairness for all our more than 1,300 employees – not just in Hanover but across our 11 facilities in three states. We continue to bargain in good faith to craft a new bargaining agreement with the union representing our Hanover-based employees, and we are proud to offer highly competitive compensation and benefits to our valued employees,” the company said in a statement attributed to CEO Jeff Warehime.

Thanks for signing up!

Watch for us in your inbox.

Subscribe Now

WHTM Daily Digest

“The reality is that some employee benefits are far more expensive at the Hanover-based facilities than at our other plants,” the statement continued. “We must bring costs at our Hanover facilities in line with the rest of the company. That is what is fair, and it’s what we need to ensure Hanover Foods can continue to thrive – not just for today, but for another 100 years.”

The next collective bargaining session is scheduled for Tuesday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27.