Hormel to open health care center for employees in Austin

Employees at Hormel in Austin will soon have a new health clinic to go to.

ABC affiliate KAAL-TV reports Hormel Foods agreed to open a new health care center for its employees next Tuesday.

Janet Hogan, vice president of human resources for Hormel Foods, told KAAL the clinic was in the works for a couple years but more recent conversations with the UFCW Local 9 union expedited the process.

"The union has been asking for a healthcare clinic for quite some time and during these last negotiations we were able to gain approval to move forward," Hogan said.

"That was one of our demands. We had to have primary healthcare for our people," Local 9 President Richard Morgan told KAAL. "It was a very tough negotiation."

The site will be open to the 4,700 people on the company's health plans, and will help improve access to high quality, affordable health care for employees and their families.