A staffer for UFCW Local 271 in Omaha told the Militant at the reception that some workers have signed union authorization cards at three other meatpacking plants, including Skylark Meats. Skylark Meats is owned by Rosen's Diversified, Inc., a major U.S. beef packer that also owns Dakota Premium Foods in South St. Paul, Minnesota, where workers voted July 21 to be organized by the UFCW. There are more than 2,000 unorganized meat packers in a dozen or more plants in the greater Omaha area, he said.

The new union organizing center, located in South Omaha, which has a growing Latino population, was jointly opened by the UFCW and Omaha Together, One Community (OTOC), an organization of 38 religious congregations.

One OTOC member at the open house, a retired Mexican-American construction worker who worked in the packing industry some years ago, heard some of the workers describe the speedup and other harsh conditions in the plants today and has volunteered to help the organizing drive.

Some of the largest packing plants in Omaha are only about a mile from the new OTOC/UFCW office. One has more than 900 workers. Almost all the workers are immigrants from Latin America, most from Mexico.

Supporters of the Militant and Perspectiva Mundial have regularly distributed these papers and talked with workers at the plant gate there over the past three or four weeks or set up literature tables in South Omaha.

On one occasion, one of the workers talked to Militant supporters at the plant gate for more than 15 minutes. The worker, who is originally from Mexico and has worked at the plant almost three years, had recently signed a union authorization card and did not want to give his name because of likely company victimization. He described the large turnover in the workforce. In his own case, the company fired him after refusing to accept his medical operation as an excuse for missing work and then, after his recovery, rehired him at a new employee's starting wage of $7.00 an hour, which is at least $1.00 to $2.00 less then most UFCW-organized plants.

The worker described a work stoppage at his plant more than a year ago lasting 30 minutes that was carried out in nearly all the kill and cut departments. The stoppage was over holiday pay that was not on workers' checks. The company responded saying it would pay the holiday if the workers returned to the line, which they did. The company then fired the five leaders of the work stoppage and never did pay the holiday.

The UFCW has filed unfair labor practice charges against ConAgra in Omaha. It accuses the company of searching employees' lockers for union literature, questioning workers about their support to the union, and videotaping license plates of workers who took union leaflets at the plant gates.

The workers' resistance to the attacks by the meatpacking bosses, particularly the union organizing drive, has not gone unnoticed by big-business politicians in Nebraska. In June, Gov. Michael Johanns signed a "Nebraska Meatpacking Industry Workers Bill of Rights."

The new law supposedly gives workers the right to organize and join together for collective bargaining purposes, the right to a safe workplace by establishing "management/employee safety committees," adequate restroom and rest break facilities, and adequate equipment without fear of harassment or reprisals.

Of the numerous workers Militant reporters spoke with over the last few weeks, only a few had even heard of the new law and none had a voice in bringing it about.

Over the years, capitalist politicians around the country have drawn up many official declarations such as the new Nebraska "Bill of Rights." Their chief function has been to convince the working class that the capitalist government will actually protect their rights. But these "worker right" laws operate in favor of the bosses.

The so-called Bill of Rights, for example, starts off by declaring that "Nebraska is a right-to-work state," referring to the open shop legislation that weakens union representation. And it has ridiculous statements such as: "The failure to provide adequate equipment shall be cause for the [management/union] safety committee to make recommendations for corrective action by the employer."

One of the Local 271 UFCW staffers at the OTOC/UFCW open house said he had heard about the sit-down strike at Dakota Premium Foods in St. Paul, Minnesota, the June 12 pro-union march and rally, and the fight against the company's antiunion campaign. He said union organizers in Omaha have learned things from their experiences to win union representation. They have been leafleting churches and the soccer fields in South Omaha. They are now starting to hold house meetings with meat packers and their families about the union, and OTOC activists are helping to provide translation.