MARSHALL — A group of employees at the Archer Daniels Midland plant in Marshall voted to unionize last week, union representatives said. A total of 21 maintenance mechanics and reliability technicians at ADM in Marshall are now members of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters.

Employees said this week they hope to be able to negotiate with ADM on wages and benefits, training and more.

“I think it will be something that everyone will benefit from,” said ADM employee Austin Rykhus.

“It’s going to be nice to have a voice, and be able to negotiate,” said ADM employee Andrew Mercie. “All the guys are pretty excited.”

The NCSRCC represents 27,000 members in a six-state area including Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin. Members include carpenters, industrial workers, interior systems carpenters, millwrights, pile drivers and floor coverers.

There are employees at other ADM locations around the country who are already unionized, Rykhus said. The group of workers who voted to join Millwrights Local 548 also aren’t the first ADM employees in Marshall to join a union. A group of Marshall ADM employees voted to join the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers a little earlier this fall, Mercie said.

Rykhus said the process of joining a union started with conversations that workers at ADM had around September.

“A group of us were talking about it one day,” he said. Rykhus said he decided to look at different unions, “and see what was out there.”

Rykhus and Mercie said the group of employees had concerns about issues like wages, as well as getting training and qualifications.

Rykhus and Mercie reached out to business representatives from Millwrights Local 548 in October, union spokespeople said. The union held a meeting to discuss the process of joining. ADM workers gathered signatures and petitioned to launch a campaign to become union members, and form an organizing committee.

On Nov. 30, a majority of the group of 21 maintenance mechanics and reliability technicians voted to join the NCSRCC.

“The potential to have these employees organize for a better future was exciting,” Local 548 business representative Luke Meier said in a news release. “I am grateful for the work put in by these workers and their willingness to stand up for one another. I am proud of what they have been able to achieve and look forward to supporting them through their future negotiations with ADM.”

Union representatives said NCSRCC would work with ADM to schedule contract negotiations.

“I think it will help us,” Rykhus said. “I feel like we might actually have a voice.”