Dive Brief:

• Unionized workers at a pork slaughterhouse in Worthington, MN, have voted to authorize a strike. The move comes after 10 months of negotiations between the company and its 1,800 union workers failed to produce a contract.
• No walkout has occurred or been announced. But the vote gives the local representatives of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union a new bargaining chip in the talks. 
• At issue in the negotiations are workers' demands for a pay raise, and the company's plan to shift to a lower-cost healthcare plan.

Dive Insight:

Slaughterhouse work is not an easy job to keep a company profitable in an era of rising costs in commodities and healthcare. Here's hoping the two sides, and their often conflicting needs, can reach a deal.

And let's hope such a deal comes soon. The Worthington plant is one of six unionized facilities in five states. A strike there could spread rapidly throughout JBS.