MOORHEAD - Officials with American Crystal Sugar Co. say they sent their best and final offer to union leaders, after eight days of contract talks.
Crystal Sugar is negotiating with the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Union over a contract that ends July 31, covering about 1,200 workers.
Crystal vice president of administration Lisa Borgen wrote on the company's website that the union walked out of negotiations.
John Riskey is union local president in Grand Forks. He says negotiations are supposed to be private. But he confirmed the union said it was done negotiating after the company moved away from union interests.Borgen wrote that the two sides remain far apart.
Failed negotiations in 2011 ended in a union lockout that lasted two years.