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Tyson workers build solidarity in Omaha
http://www.themilitant.com

BY JACOB PERASSO
OMAHA, Nebraska—A June 26 plant-gate collection at the Swift
slaughterhouse here and participation in a meeting to celebrate the
victory of Róger Calero against government efforts to deport him were
the highlights of a visit here by two Tyson strikers. United Food and
Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) Local 271 hosted the two-person Truth
Squad that canvassed for support for their fight against the giant meat
and poultry company. The squad traveled to Omaha on the invitation of a
group of six Swift workers.

Some 480 members of UFCW Local 538 have been on strike for four months
in defense of their wages, benefits, and conditions against Tyson Foods
in Jefferson, Wisconsin (see article linked below). The strikers had
previously sent out Truth Squads in mid-March to meatpacking plants in
Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska, carrying donation cans and
information about their struggle.

Squad member Mike French, a worker for 28 years at Tyson and
vice-president of Local 538, spoke about the four-month strike as part
of a panel of speakers at a June 26 public meeting at Local 271’s union
hall.

The event was held to discuss the lessons of the successful fight
against the deportation of Róger Calero.

French said that he never thought he would be out on strike against
Tyson. “When you got a job at that plant, you thought you had a job for
life. It is not uncommon to have 40 years of seniority in the plant,”
he said.

The union leader asked participants at the meeting to think about
Tyson’s slogan, “What your family deserves,” while he read a list of
company demands on the workers and their families. The concession
demands include a four-year wage freeze; a wage cut for new hires of
$2.10 per hour; the elimination of “profit sharing” payments;
reductions in disability pay by 50 percent and cuts in vacation time; a
freeze on pensions; and the abolition of severance pay.

The cure for corporate greed
“We voted 400-9 that we weren’t going to take that,” said French. “ We
have been on the picket line 24/7 since then and are proud to take a
stand.

“The cure for corporate greed is solidarity. And if corporate greed
ever comes a knockin’ on your door, Local 538 will come here and say
‘it ain’t gonna happen here either.’”

French had been especially keen to come to Omaha, he said, after Swift
workers and UFCW staffers from Local 271 had made the eight-hour
journey three times to Jefferson to attend rallies in solidarity with
the Tyson strike.

Earlier that day the two strikers had been joined by Local 271
officials and members outside the Swift plant entrance to greet workers
leaving the plant. The workers were very receptive to their fight,
French said, and contributed $207 to strike funds.

News about the strike had already gotten around inside the Swift plant
thanks to efforts by union activists to build support and bring workers
to the solidarity rallies. One kill floor worker, who asked that his
name not be used, told the Militant that Swift workers are “in
solidarity with their fight, and know well that a victory for them will
be a victory for us, and that if they lose, we lose.” He and other
workers had hung fliers about the Jefferson rallies in the lunch room
and locker room and had organized to notify every worker possible that
the Truth Squad was going to visit the plant that day.

Workers at the Swift plant won a UFCW organizing drive last year by
voting for union representation by a two-to-one margin after a
hard-fought battle that took several years.