Dodge City ? With workers at one southwest Kansas meatpacking plant about to vote on joining a union, efforts have been revived to organize employees at another plant.

Workers arriving for their shifts Monday at the National Beef complex in Dodge City were handed leaflets from the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

“We are receiving a lot of phone calls from these people,” said Martin Rosas, secretary-treasurer of the union’s Local 2. “These people, they’re constantly calling our office in Dodge City.”

The UFCW already represents workers at National Beef in Liberal and at another Dodge City plant, Cargill Meat Solutions. The union held a campaign at the National Beef plant in Dodge City last April, but that effort fizzled during contract negotiations, Rosas said.

This year’s campaign comes against the backdrop of a vote set for Thursday by workers at the Tyson Fresh Meats plant near Holcomb on organizing under the United Steelworkers.

If successful, the union would represent 2,450 workers at the Tyson plant. Results are expected to be known sometime Friday.

At National Beef’s Dodge City plant, Rosas said issues range from the cost of health care coverage to the ability to speak up to company management. He said a core of around 15 National Beef workers are involved in the drive but that 300 employees at the plant signed a letter sent to the union last October outlining their concerns.

“They would like to be able to raise their opinions without any repercussions,” said Rosas. Health care costs for National Beef workers in Dodge City range around $30 per week, compared with $11 at the city’s Cargill plant, Rosas said. Base wages at Cargill are slightly higher than National Beef in Dodge City, but that isn’t a major issue, he said.

As at other meatpacking plants, the unionization drive at National Beef is aimed at maintenance and production workers. A vote on unionizing would require authorization by at least 30 percent of the targeted workers.