Workers were eager to talk about the significance of what they accomplished and the next steps in consolidating the union inside the plant. Several pointed out this was the first union contract they have forced the company to sign since the UFCW was decertified after a strike workers lost in the 1980s.

Some 56 percent of the 1,600 workers who voted approved the contract.

The strikers faced Alberta government interference on the side of the Tyson bosses, court injunctions limiting the right to picket, harassment by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, goon violence, and company officials determined to defeat the union by maintaining production with scabs and managers. Against these forces, about 1,000 strikers stayed firm on the picket lines, forcing the bosses to concede the closed union shop—the main issue of the strike.

“Membership in the Union shall be a condition of employment for all employees who hold membership in the Union at the date of ratification and for all new employees,” states the new contract.

Over the course of the three-week walkout, approximately 600 production workers crossed the picket line. The company tried to run the plant with them and another 300 clerical personnel and managers. The strikers organized to reach out to the line crossers and had considerable success in convincing dozens to come out and join the union. “Seventeen joined the union in the days before the vote,” reported Kahlid Abdalla. “Once you had a chance to talk to them, you could convince workers from all nationalities to join.”

A feature of the Lakeside workforce is its multinational character. The majority of the workers come from Africa, most of them from Sudan. The second largest group is from Newfoundland.

“We were after the union shop,” said Reuben Mayo, a maintenance electrician who served on Local 401’s bargaining committee. “We proved to the company we can take them on for 23 days with 60 percent of the people,” he said.

According to Local 401 staff organizer Archie Duckworth, about 10 percent of union supporters on the picket line voted against the contract because they didn’t feel it came close enough to a previous proposal from the Alberta Labor Board mediator. The workers had approved that contract proposal and the company had rejected it. “A lot of scabs voted against it too,” Duckworth said.

“The contract was weak,” explained Zacharia Ibrahim who works second shift in processing. “We only got to see it at the time of the vote. But it wasn’t much better than the company’s previous offer.”

Many workers said, however, that forcing the bosses to recognize the union and sign a contract was a major accomplishment. “About 100 people came over to the union because we need the union,” said Chan. “We wouldn’t go back with an empty hand.”

Local 401 members are now continuing the struggle inside the plant. On November 13, about 35 new shop stewards appointed by their local met at the union hall for the first time to discuss the challenges in implementing the contract.

Former coal miner Cindy Montour, who works in processing, was pleased she was chosen as a steward. While waiting for the meeting to start, she told the Militant the strike “made everyone stronger. The union was always the priority. Four years from now we will be able to get more of what we need,” she said, referring to the time the current contract expires.

A week after the strike ended, the company remained short-staffed because several hundred people quit during the walkout, said Peter Jany, a shop steward and a leader of the Sudanese workers who helped initiate the union-organizing drive in the spring of 2004. “Some of the scabs have been provocative,” Jany said. “But we are talking to people about the union. And the supervisors aren’t yelling at us like they used to before the strike.”

Natalie Doucet contributed to this article.  
 
 
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