DANUBE, MINN. -- It's 2 p.m. on a weekday and Steve Kuiken should be at work, not hanging out with his buddies at a small-town bar.

But a labor dispute at the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative in nearby Renville has left Kuiken and 220 other union employees locked out of their jobs for more than two weeks.

Kuiken, of Sacred Heart, worries for his family. Out of work and without health insurance, he wonders how long he should wait before finding a new job.

Two of Kuiken's co-workers, joining him at the bar, also question how long the lockout will last. No talks have been held for weeks between union leaders and plant managers, leaving the workers to pass the time as best they can -- sitting at the bar, watching TV, waiting.

The cooperative closed its doors to union employees on July 29 after the union overwhelmingly rejected a contract that workers said left them with fewer benefits and higher health insurance costs.

Keeping vigil

The union has picketed the area around the plant around the clock to inform people about the lockout and to try to win their support. Renville residents say this is the first labor lockout in recent memory, ironic for a community that calls itself "The Cooperative Capital" and displays a handshake on the town's welcome sign.

"A lot of households' income rests on beet plant work. There is an impact certainly to our city," Renville Mayor Quentin Rath said. "We're taking a cautious wait-and-see."

Co-ops for sugar beets, eggs and fish line Hwy. 212, the main road through the city of 1,300 people 100 miles west of the Twin Cities. But it is the 29-year-old sugar beet co-op, with its 250 year-round employees, that is Renville's largest employer.

Farmers act as shareholders for the acres of beets planted in 14 counties across southwestern Minnesota. They bring their crop to the plant, where workers turn the beets into sugar for candy companies and other businesses.

Harvest usually begins in September, but workers say the lockout may push back the start date.

"This is our prime maintenance period and it's getting lost," said Randall Billmeier, union president for three years.

Billmeier started negotiating with co-op management in May. He brought a final offer to the union on July 26. Workers overwhelmingly voted against the contract because of the extra cost of health care and a new drug policy, Billmeier said.

Billmeier said under the proposed contract employees would have to pay more out-of pocket health insurance costs. If they tested positive for drugs, they would have to pay for treatment.

Two days later, Billmeier said, management gave him an ultimatum: Accept the contract or be locked out.

"We showed up the next morning, and we were locked out," said Billmeier, 47, of Bird Island. "The company refused to go back to the table."

Co-op board chairman Neil Rudeen and board members Steven Enestvedt and Rick Mersbergen refused to comment for this article and referred inquiries to plant president and CEO John Richmond and labor negotiator Robert Strickland, who did not return repeated phone calls.

In the past, contract negotiations usually went smoothly, Billmeier said, but this was the first time he had bargained with the co-op's current managers.

"We've had a good relationship with the management historically," Rath said. "It's crucial that there's some give and take on both sides to get past this impasse and bring these people back to work."

Pay and benefits

Billmeier has converted a home in Danube, which is 6 miles from Renville, into lockout headquarters. Signs protesting the lockout litter the front yard.

Inside, picket schedules are posted on wood paneling. Union employees picket in four-hour shifts every other day. It's hard to miss the workers protesting along the 3-mile stretch of highway from Danube to the sugar beet plant.

Workers wave yellow signs at passing cars and try to elicit honks. At the plant's main gate, workers sometimes keep warm in a makeshift tent while setting up their signs along the road that leads to the plant.

A white line has been drawn on the road, and security guards will stop anyone who steps over the line without management's authorization.

"All we want to do is get back in there," said Andy Mork, 34, of Renville. "It's really unfortunate they had to lock us out like this. I don't understand it."

Like Mork, many union employees said they were drawn to the co-op for its good pay and substantial benefits. Average pay is $18 an hour, Billmeier said.

But working conditions have declined over the past five years, some workers said.

"Even if I come back, I'm going to keep looking for another job," said Andrew Thibault of Blomkest, an eight-year veteran of the co-op.

Nancy Standfuss, manager of Casey's General Store in nearby Olivia, said she has seen a dip in revenue because workers aren't stopping by for donuts and coffee in the morning before heading to the plant.

A couple of places in Danube, a bar called Miller's on Main and the 212-1 Stop, have reported a slight increase in business because both are near the temporary lockout headquarters.

"Eventually it's going to affect business, I'm sure," said Mike Chenoweth, who works at Miller's.

Will harvest help?

There were two strikes in the plant's early years, but there has never been a lockout at the plant, Billmeier said.

Lockouts, though still rare, are becoming more common because of the perception that unions have weakened, said Frank Emspak, a labor relations professor at the University of Wisconsin's extension school and a veteran labor activist who heads the Workers Independent News Service in Madison, Wis.

"The disturbing thing here is that there's a feeling that you don't really have to deal with your longtime employees," Emspak said. "I think it was a shock to the community and definitely a shock to the union that the company would go that far."

Still, Emspak said he believes that the upcoming harvest will spark a resolution.

Local politicians have gotten into the fray. State Reps. Lyle Koenen and Al Juhnke, state Sen. Gary Kubly and Senate Majority Leader Dean E. Johnson, all DFLers, soon will send a letter asking Billmeier and Richmond for a quick resolution.

"People aren't getting paid," said Kubly, from Granite Falls. "I think it would be a pretty big impact on the community that those folks live in."

Kuiken said he won't wait much longer before looking for a job. Both he and his wife work at the plant, and they didn't have insurance to cover for their son's recent trip to the dentist.

Like Kuiken, Rich Slettedahl passes time at the bar while waiting to hear news about his job.

"There's not much else to do," said Slettedahl, a seven-year plant worker. "It's the first time I've ever been locked out of a job."

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