"We are human beings and have the right to speak," said Carmen, one of 30 women on second shift who walked out. "We spend more time in the plant than we do at home. How can they deny us the right to talk to each other? We work with our hands, not our mouths."

About 20 meat packers, almost all Mexican-born immigrants in their 20s, talked about their strike recently with two Militant reporters outside the plant.

Some 250 workers process beef and pork at the factory, located in a meatpacking district on the city's South Side. Workers at the plant start at $5.96 per hour, a wage that eventually tops out at $7.47.

On September 28 the company accused a butcher on second shift of talking and threatened to fire him.

Word of the threat spread throughout the workforce. As the butcher punched out to leave, all the other workers on the shift walked off the line, leaving production at a standstill.

"We did not organize this ahead of time," said one of the workers. "We felt this rule was unfair from the beginning. When they tried to fire the butcher, that was the final straw. He punched out, and then we all punched out. The company couldn't do a thing, because we all left. The bosses' jaws dropped."

The next day, all of the workers on second shift met at their union hall. They elected a committee made up of three men and one woman to present their demands to the company.  
 
'We demand respect'
Workers at the plant are members of Local 100-A of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

"We had to take action because they weren't treating us like human beings," said Gabriel Rosas, 26, one of the workers elected to the committee. "They shout at us like animals. They try to make us afraid of being fired if we stand up. We don't have to be afraid. We demand respect."

The committee has continued to meet, discussing ways workers can press for improvements in their next contract. The old contract expired in November.

After the company agreed to not fire the butcher and to eliminate the no-talking rule, workers agreed to return to work. Before being allowed to punch in, every worker on the shift was required to sign a written statement pledging not to walk out again. "I had to sign it because I need this job," said one worker. "But what we did that night was right."

David Rosenfeld is a meat packer in Chicago and a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers. Lisa-Marie Rottach is a garment worker in Chicago and a member of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.  
 
 
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