Vol. 73/No. 25      June 29, 2009

“The fact of the matter is that the ‘no-match’ letters were a pretext to fire us. The company used it to get rid of people, higher paid workers with seniority and benefits,” said Isela Hernandez, one of the 254 workers who have been fired. “Now we are learning how to organize to defend our rights. We are demanding that the company give us our jobs back and that workers hired to replace us get full pay and benefits.”

Around 75 to 100 workers picketed the two Overhill Farms plants here in Vernon June 9. The company employs 1,000 workers, the majority of them women.

“We’ll be out here every Tuesday,” said Yolanda Ayon, who has worked 20 years in the plant. Most of the workers picketed in front of the plant, while others stood on the corners at the intersection, handing informational flyers to people in their cars. A few workers from inside the plant, including one part-time worker, joined the picket when they got off work. One of them, who asked that her name not be used for fear of reprisal, said the “part-time” workers are working six days a week, often more than eight hours a day, and the company doesn’t pay them overtime.

Upon passing the pickets many truck drivers and workers going to and from other factories honked their horns in support. About 44,000 people, most of them industrial workers, are employed within the 5.2 square miles of Vernon.

“These companies all look at each other, at what they’re doing. If one succeeds in something—like these firings—the others will try it,” said Bohemia Augustino, who worked at the plant for 18 years assembling food plates until she was fired.

“We killed ourselves on the assembly line for many years, many of us have injuries from repetitive motion,” she said. “Now we’re worth nothing. We’re out on the streets. This is unjust, no one should be treated this way.”

About 75 of the fired workers rallied June 11 at a Panda Express restaurant in South Central Los Angeles appealing for support. Overhill Farms makes frozen packaged food products for companies like Panda, Safeway, Jenny Craig, American Airlines, and others. Once the workers formed a line and started chanting, fewer and fewer customers went inside. The workers were back again the next day.

The Overhill Farms plants are organized by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770. “When we got the ‘no-match’ letters, our union didn’t do anything for us. That’s why we joined the General Brotherhood of Workers International Union,” said Augustino.

“This is the largest mass firing of workers by a company due to alleged Social Security number discrepancies,” said Nativo Lopez, of Hermandad Mexicana Latinoamericana. Lopez is also the president of the General Brotherhood of Workers International Union.  
 
 
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