Months into ongoing contract negotiations, United Steelworkers union members at the 3M chemicals plant in Cottage Grove rejected the company’s most recent contract proposal on Monday.
The most recent contract proposal was rejected by a 5-1 margin, Brian Ecker, a United Steelworkers staff member, said in an email.
Union members staged informational picketing outside the Cottage Grove site on Wednesday morning, he said.
Members voted before Labor Day to give union leaders the authority to strike amid the ongoing contract negotiations. Negotiations between 3M and the union started up in July.
The previous contract expired in mid-August and union members have been on an ongoing extension since then, said 3M spokeswoman Fanna Haile-Selassie.
The previous contract covered roughly 400 workers at the plant.
“We are working together and we have plans to continue talks,” she said.