Cedar Rapids Gazette: More than 500 workers at General Mills voted down the company’s contract proposal by 99 percent Wednesday, sending both parties to the negotiation table in an effort to possibly avoid a strike. The workers — who are members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union’s Local 110 — have agreed to meet with company representatives Thursday morning to negotiate a new contract. If an agreement can’t be reached, employees will have no choice but to go on strike, union leaders said during a news conference Wednesday. The union represents 520 workers at the Cedar Rapids facility at 4800 Edgewood Road SW, and the bargaining unit members perform production, sanitation and maintenance work.