More than 400 locked-out North Dakota American Crystal Sugar workers got some good news this week when the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled they were eligible to collect unemployment benefits.  

When the lockout began in August 2011, North Dakota Job Service ruled the workers were ineligible for the benefits. The state Supreme Court overturned a lower court’s ruling that upheld the denial of benefits.

The North Dakota workers are part of the 1,300 members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) who were locked out. Workers in Minnesota and Iowa were able to collect benefits shortly after the lockout began, but those have expired.   

Unemployment benefits in North Dakota are up to 50% of wages for up to 26 weeks. That could translate into up to $400 a week, for a total of up to $10,400 per worker, according to the Job Service. It is estimated that the workers could begin receiving benefits in a matter of weeks.

BCTGM Local 167G President John Riskey told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

To be locked out by Crystal Sugar as they have, all these families without anything, most of them scraping by to put food on the table, it’s going to mean a lot.

Currently the AFL-CIO and the union movement are supporting a boycott of American Crystal Sugar products.