Vol. 71/No. 10      March 12, 2007

The last union drive there failed in 2000, when more than 1,800 workers voted against either the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) or the United Workers Independent Union. The plant was then owned by IBP. Tyson, the world’s largest processor of chicken, beef, and pork, bought IBP in 2001.

According to a February 14 Associated Press article by Roxana Hegeman, safety on the job is one of the factors behind the union-organizing drive. “Workers last year reported 452 job injuries at the plant, in addition to the man who died in December after getting hit in the head by a large metal door, Occupational Safety and Health Administration logs show,” Hegeman wrote.

The article, which was reprinted widely across the country, quoted workers in the plant who told of nerve damage from repetitive work, and strong chemical vapors that cause nose bleeds. One worker, Gabino Martínez, told AP that after his hand was smashed by a cow he “had surgery at 8:30 a.m. and was back at work by 4 p.m. with his arm in a sling because the company would not pay him otherwise. He said Tyson eventually fired him after he refused to move heavy carcasses against his doctor’s recommended weight restrictions.”

The unionization vote comes on the heels of a victory by workers at Holcomb who sued Tyson to get back pay for time spent putting on and taking off safety equipment, known as “donning and doffing.” On February 16, U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum cleared the way for the workers to seek class-action status. George Hanson, an attorney representing the Tyson employees, said more than 800 workers have indicated they wish to join the suit, which he said could cost Tyson millions.

The company currently pays workers using knives four minutes a day for donning and doffing. Many workers say that is not enough time. Their lawsuit also seeks additional pay for workers required to wear hair nets, gloves, and ear plugs.

Holcomb is located in southwest Kansas. There are many cattle plants in that part of the state, as well as to the south in the Oklahoma Panhandle and northern Texas. Smithfield Beef has announced plans to build a plant in Hooker, Oklahoma, that would process 5,000 head of cattle daily and employ as many as 3,000 workers. Currently, Hooker has 1,700 residents.

A February 24 AP dispatch said some in Hooker fear the plant will “attract immigrants who will overwhelm city services.” The article quotes rancher John Hairford, who is described as “the unofficial leader of a group of 140 residents who oppose the plant.” He said, “I have nothing against Latinos coming up here legally to work… . What we don’t need is gangs; we don’t want the criminals.”

According to AP, many workers from Latin America who work in nearby meatpacking plants in Guymon, Oklahoma; Cactus, Texas; and Liberal, Kansas, have settled in Hooker. The Swift plant in Cactus was one of those raided December 12 by immigration agents, who arrested nearly 300 workers.

Workers in the area took part in nationwide protests last spring demanding legalization for all immigrants. Some 3,000 people attended an immigrant rights rally in Garden City, Kansas, just east of Holcomb, on April 10. The following day, about 600 workers at the Excel beef plant in Dodge City, Kansas, walked off the line. They gathered in the cafeteria to protest the company’s attempt to discipline workers who had taken the previous day off to join the immigrant rights demonstrations. The workers, represented by UFCW Local 2, forced the company to back down. During the protest the company called the cops and “dozens of highway troopers assembled to handle any possible disturbance, law enforcement officials said,” AP reported at the time.
 
 
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