Vol. 71/Supplement      August 2007

The Workers’ Voice is a newsletter produced by members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 789 in the plant. It was “born through the fight to bring the union into Dakota Premium that broke out June 1, 2000, when we had a sit-down strike for seven and a half hours to demand the company slow down the line speed and stop forcing workers to work while injured,” said its most recent issue.

Local 789 members decided to reissue the newsletter as part of a campaign to defend their union from decertification. Leading up to the expiration of the union contract June 30, pro-company workers began circulating petitions to get rid of the union. Bosses have been organizing meetings, passing out anti-union propaganda, and stepping up harassment of pro-union workers, according to several workers in the plant.

The National Labor Relations Board told the union yesterday that they expect to decide in about two weeks whether to hold a decertification election.

Union supporters are visiting coworkers and working on the next edition of the Workers’ Voice. They plan to distribute it to the more than 200 workers in the plant and use it to spread the word and win solidarity in the region.

Dakota worker Rosa Cruz said the newsletters “let the people know immediately what’s happening, like in the case of Miguel. What would happen to him if there was no union here?”

Cruz was referring to a company attack on union shop steward Miguel Gutiérrez yesterday. The company sent Gutiérrez home, saying he wasn’t working fast enough. But the company had been forcing him to work a job they know he can’t do because of a job-related injury. With support from his coworkers and the union representative, he won his job back.

“This is a way to prove to people that we have rights. That they have to treat you like a human being, not like an animal,” said Gutiérrez. “We have to make people see this reality, not the one that the company offers you.”

Rafael Espinoza, a Local 789 representative said, “People say if there’s no union, it’s going to be like it was before. They remember what it was like before—when someone got injured, it was a matter of days before they were gone.”

Rebecca Williamson is a trimmer at Dakota Premium Foods.  
 
 
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