This chant, along with "Sí se puede!" (Yes we can) in Spanish, echoed along the streets as more than 250 meatpacking workers and supporters marched through downtown Omaha and held a highly spirited rally in front of ConAgra's corporate headquarters September 27. The action, held the day before the agribusiness giant's annual shareholders meeting, was organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) and Omaha Together One Community (OTOC), an organization of 38 religious congregations.

The march was led by a brightly decorated float, followed by a Mexican mariachi band, that displayed the UFCW logo and posters of almost 70 UFCW locals that organize ConAgra workers in 19 states and Canada. About 60 percent of ConAgra's 35,000 production workers are unionized. Marchers almost to a person carried signs with the UFCW logo together with a bilingual slogan, "Demand Justice and Respect! Demandamos Respeto y Justicia! No Fear! Sin Miedo!"

The first two speakers at the rally were leaders of the UFCW organizing drive at ConAgra's Northern States Beef plant, located in South Omaha, where the majority of the Latino meat packers live and work. The two, Julio González and Guadalupe Campos, both work in the plant's fabrication department. González said that more than 50 percent of the 550 Northern States Beef workers have signed union support cards.

González reported, "To form a union we have organized meetings in and out of the plant, at workers' homes, and at local churches." He said he believed almost 70 percent of the Northern States Beef workers support having a union.

Campos, who has been working at ConAgra for five years, said, "In some ways ConAgra for the first few years treated me OK." But, she added, "I became active to get a union when I and my co-workers never got a pay raise and, most important, because when one of us is not there on the line, we have to do the same work as if they were."

The UFCW recently filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for a union representation election, which could be held within one to six months, according to UFCW spokesperson Greg Denier.

Donna McDonald, president of UFCW Local 271 in Omaha, told the demonstrators, "We would like ConAgra to voluntarily recognize the union, but they have called for a formal election." She warned, "The company will try to intimidate you with threats of closing the plant, will enforce extra discipline on union supporters in the plant, will spread lies, and will harass workers as they force you to attend closed-door meetings with management to barrage you with antiunion information."

González told those at the rally that a ConAgra foreman recently had him taken off his regular job and placed at a different work station. He was ordered not to move out of a small square on the line, and, after he dropped his knife and moved to pick it up, the foreman screamed at him as though he was a child.

"When I requested a bathroom break, it took the foreman 20 minutes to get someone to relieve me, then he screamed at me again when I did not get back within a few minutes. This is why we need a union," González declared, as cheers of "Sí se puede" rang out.

Damian Zuerlein, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, located in the Latino community of South Omaha, pointed out, "I feel like I have been a military chaplain as I see workers come to the church with injuries that range from being cut by knives to torn muscles and broken bones. It is like they have been in a war. That is why I support these workers having a union."

Also speaking at the rally were Nebraska AFL-CIO president Ken Mass, a number of local UFCW officials from as far away as Worthington, Minnesota, and Nebraska state senator Shelly Kiel.  
 
Company harassed workers
The NLRB recently issued a ruling against ConAgra, upholding a UFCW complaint that the company had intimidated, harassed, illegally videotaped, and prohibited workers from distributing union literature to workers at the Northern States Beef plant as part of an organizing drive.

ConAgra, the nation's second largest food company, reported on September 21 a 43.5 percent jump in fiscal first-quarter earnings from a year ago. As part of its recent reorganization, called Operation Overdrive, the company cast away 8,450 jobs and closed 31 food processing plants.

Placed on the defensive by the union campaign and the NLRB ruling, the company has tried to pretty up its anti-worker policies. According to the September 20 Omaha World-Herald, ConAgra's senior vice president, Timothy McMahon, said the company, which takes in $27 billion in annual revenue, has rethought its "adversarial" relationship with unions such as the UFCW. "Our old corporate culture assumed there was a fight to be won" but "the new corporate climate is not about confrontation," he asserted. He declared that ConAgra plans to abide by the new "Nebraska Meat Packing Industry Workers Bill of Rights" and improve conditions at its processing plants.

McMahon was referring to a new law promoted by Gov. Michael Johanns that supposedly guarantees 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. In fact, the measure is toothless and only reinforces antiunion "open shop" legislation.

Quoted in the September 20 World-Herald, Governor Johanns applauded ConAgra's statement about the Workers Bill of Rights and its announced workplace improvements. The Democratic governor gushed that ConAgra has "just set the bar a little higher for everyone," adding, "I'd like to give them a big pat on the back."

A week before the pro-union rally, a press conference was held outside the gate of ConAgra's Northern States Beef plant, which was attended by about 50 plant workers, UFCW officials, and members of OTOC.

The UFCW/OTOC launched a campaign in June to organize what they estimate are about 4,000 meat packers in the Omaha area. Seven nonunion meatpacking plants were targeted, including the Greater Omaha Packing Co. and Nebraska Beef, which are only a few blocks from the Northern States Beef plant. Organizers of the march and rally announced there will be more actions called in support of the union organizing drives.