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ILWU Walkout Halts C&H Sugar Operations in Bay Area

Warehouse workers at C&H Sugar's Crockett facility have walked off the job in the first labor action against the major California sugar producer in decades. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 6 strike, which began mid-June, involves approximately 90-100 employees. The workers are negotiating a new three-year contract with central disputes over healthcare coverage, retiree medical benefits, sick leave allocations, and overtime compensation thresholds. American Sugar Refining, the plant's parent company, says it offered a 20% wage increase, but workers rejected it as insufficient. The company reportedly proposed eliminating five of ten annual sick days and shifting overtime eligibility to 40 hours weekly. The Crockett complex, a historic facility receiving Union Pacific rail service, produces 25,000 truckloads of sugar annually. The 2003 solidarity strike represented the previous major work stoppage at the site.