As the state is about to face severe cuts in the budget and the federal government is pouring money into war, economic pressures are building up. In these times, we find more economic hardships to face due to companies attempting to maintain high profits without considering workers' conditions.
More than 450 workers went on strike against Tyson Foods in Jefferson, WI on Feb. 28. The union representing workers at Tyson Foods, the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 538, was pushed over the line after eight months of negotiations between the union and Tyson Foods representatives were going nowhere.
Workers showed almost unanimous support in a 400-9 vote to strike Tyson Foods rather than watch more than 30 years of progress in worker conditions reversed. Some of the concessions Tyson Foods is demanding include a two-tier pay scale cutting hourly rates for new hires from $11.10 to $9 and a four-year pay freeze for current workers. They also want to enact a freeze on pension benefits and to eliminate them entirely for new hires. Health care premiums and deductibles would be increased, taking up to $4,600 a year out of families' pockets. Tyson Foods also wants to eliminate a health care supplement for retirees, cutting sick leave and disability benefits by more than half, reducing vacation benefits by 33 percent and eliminating severance protections, which would give Tyson Foods the ability to cut jobs at no cost.
Efforts to support the workers' efforts have been very extensive. Last Saturday about 400 people gathered for a food drive outside the Tyson Foods plant in Jefferson to deliver food to the strikers. Currently, strikers are receiving $100 a month from the UFCW Local 538 strike fund, so they rely heavily on donations. Delegations from as far as a recently organized meatpacking factory in Omaha, Neb. joined workers and community members to increase the pressure on Tyson Foods to reach reasonable concessions. As the strike continues, supporters are multiplying as the absurdity of Tyson Foods' actions becomes more apparent.
Unfortunately, Tyson Foods seems prepared for anything. For the past month, they have been working to bring in replacement workers to keep the plant running without union workers. After 400 workers were laid off in Chicago, Tyson Foods offered them temporary positions at the Jefferson plant. Scabs from Chicago and surrounding areas are being bused in to replace the workers on strike. They are not only offered better wages and benefits but also receive free transportation and lodging. This has only increased the degree of animosity from union workers against Tyson Foods. Another sad result from Tyson Foods' actions is the manner in which they are pitting workers against each other. As replacement workers come in and take union workers' jobs, a new degree of hatred grows between them.
While this strike has been devastating to workers as they bear the brunt of the situation, there has been an amazing degree of solidarity throughout the state and nation. On the way from Madison to Jefferson, you can see signs in people's backyards and in store windows showing support for the workers. Looking at the situation it is difficult to understand why Tyson Foods is taking such a harsh stance against its workers. The degree of loyalty that Jefferson has shown toward Tyson Foods is not being returned, and now it is as though the workers are not even human.
\One day longer, one day stronger."" This slogan was recently adopted as organizers worry that this strike will not be ending anytime soon. Since Tyson Foods continues to ignore the strikers, new strategies are being adopted to pressure retailers of Tyson products and companies using Tyson products to end their contracts and stop selling their products. Already grocery store owners in Jefferson, Fort Atkinson and Johnson Creek have removed Tyson products from the shelves. The Jefferson plant produces pepperoni for Tombstone, DiGiorno, Domino's and Jack's pizzas, in addition to other Tyson meats.
This past week also happened to be the National Student Labor Week of Action, beginning Monday with Cesar Chavez Day and ending today with the 35th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. Here in Madison, students will go to Jefferson today to support the strikers against Tyson Foods. As students in an elite university climate, it is important for us to realize our privileges and go out into the community to help as much as we can with real local struggles.
