The strike began September 18 when 47 workers walked off the job and asked for a meeting to discuss grievances with their supervisors. They were instead ordered to leave the plant. Soon up to 500 workers honored the walkout. The company has fired all 500 for supposedly violating the labor agreement between IBP and Teamsters Local 577. IBP then filed a temporary restraining order against the original 47 and is suing them for lost production, along with 20 other workers who the company claims were among those who started the walkout.

Since that time 1,000 meat packers have joined the walkout. The plant has a majority Latino workforce and is IBP's second largest plant.

So far, Teamsters Local 577 officials have refused to sanction the walkout. The union represents 2,000 of the 3,500 workers employed at the slaughterhouse. Texas has antiunion legislation, called "right-to-work" laws by the bosses, that bar union contracts stipulating all workers belong to the union. The current contract expires November 2002.

"We've never been on strike before and this is something IBP thought we'd never do," said Yolanda Carmona, who works on the kill floor. The bosses "make you work like animals. When someone cannot keep up, they make you do their job and you wind up doing two jobs. And they say that if you can't do the job you're out. They keep the chain going. People who've fainted, they let lie on the floor like a cow."

The October 9 El Mensajero, a Spanish-language newspaper, reported that lawyers representing the fired workers say the union members are demanding "the immediate reinstatement of workers to their jobs without exception, better working conditions, better treatment by supervisors and managers, that there be no revenge or retaliation, and a wage increase to the same level as plants in the surrounding area."  
 
'It boils down to profits'
At the campsite, union member Sonya Campos said, "You have a choice. You can choose between right and wrong. It does boil down to their profits. People should not have to give up muscles, arms, legs, and fingers. It's wrong." She added, "We've had a number of ranchers stop by and give their support." The farmers told Campos that with production slower due to the walkout they are pressing IBP to honor contracts with them and pick up cattle they have promised to buy.

Manuel Ruiz said that he was coming to work September 18, but when he saw workers in front of the plant "waving everybody down, we turned around, went back home and called our friends."

In addition to setting up the tent city, workers have organized mass marches of several hundred through downtown, carrying placards in English and Spanish that read, "IBP respect our rights," "Stay united," and "Si se puede" (Yes we can).

On October 3, workers marched on the Potter County courthouse to respond to the injunction brought against the workers by the company. According to IBP, "The movement is illegal and they are interfering with the normal work operations of the plant, causing the loss of business by the plant."

The October 3 hearing was postponed until October 29.

According to Jose Vasquez, a chuck boner for eight years and one of those on a committee that is organizing the walkout, there has been a significant drop-off in the company's ability to produce select cuts of boxed beef, forcing them to grind it into hamburger. "They're turning out a lot of ground beef, making Taco Bell real happy," said Vasquez. The meat packer said he has seen ambulances pull up to the plant seven or eight times over the last several weeks, which means there were severe injuries not treatable in the plant.

"There's been a 50 percent drop in chain speed in the slaughterhouse, which was 410 an hour," Yolanda Carmona said. "Lots of the inner parts--tongues, hearts, livers--have had to be thrown out."

Gary Mickelson, an official of IBP, told the press that the plant "continues working, and hiring new workers in order to replace those who have gone out."  
 
Winning support
Among those supporting the strikers and their fight for better treatment by IBP is the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). The organization's national president, Rick Dovalina, has opened up negotiations with Tyson Foods on the walkout. Tyson Foods, the giant poultry processor based in Arkansas, purchased IBP in August.

The Amarillo Catholic Diocese and the St. Lawrence Cathedral have publicly backed the protest and are offering financial aid to workers and allowing the use of their church for mass meetings. Owners of the Super Mercadito Rodriguez , a nearby store, have been bringing food out to the picket line as stock for a kitchen the unionists set up at the campsite. A steady stream of workers stop by and drop off cases of soda and bottled water. The donations are welcomed by the workers who have staffed the tent city 24 hours a day since the beginning. A donated generator provides power to the tents and a heater has also been provided to the workers.

There are three other meatpacking plants in a 50-mile radius of the Amarillo plant. At the ConAgra and the Excel plants wages are up to $3.00 an hour higher than at IBP. One worker who is a split saw operator, said ConAgra pays $13.25 for the same job while IBP pays just $10.25. Starting pay at IBP is at $8.50 an hour, with many jobs topped out at $9.90 an hour.

In response to company claims that raising wages and other issues are a violation of the existing contract, Vasquez said, "According to article 30, section 3 of our contract, amending changes is legal as long as it is put in writing."

"We haven't lost many workers going back in," striker Manuel Ruiz said. "Everyone is very dedicated to our struggle, though we were not well prepared at first. But now we're together; we could stay out even longer."

Negotiations are taking place between the company and the workers' attorneys. Ruiz said that workers are expecting an answer to their demands from the company by October 23.

The federal government's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice have also been called in as mediators.

Anthony Dutrow is a meat packer and Socialist Workers candidate for mayor of Houston. Phil Duzinski from Houston contributed to this article.  
 
 
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