Two hundred union members who had gone on strike September 19 were excluded from both votes.

The walkout began after the union officials and the company told workers that they had agreed to extend an expired contract. Union members, facing speedup on the job, harassment by the company, and seeking a wage increase and other improvements, opposed the move. While on lunch break some 200 workers demanded the company negotiate with them, but the bosses refused.

The company president showed up and fired the union members for not returning to work. The fired workers went through the plant to get others to join them on strike. Backtracking, the company proceeded to issue a list of 13 "troublemakers," who were fired, and offered to take back the others. The workers told the company they would all return or none would.

Washington Beef slaughters more than 1,000 cows per day. During the strike, the company was forced to reduce production to 400–500 cows per day.

Even with the strikers excluded from the vote, union members overwhelmingly rejected the first proposed contract by a 212-41 vote in late October. In a second ballot held November 1, the union officials won approval of the contract by a margin of five, 74 to 69. Strikers say about 40 workers on the evening cleanup crew weren't even informed of the balloting.

In the negotiations the union officials agreed to the company's firing of 19 workers it considered strike leaders. Others involved in the walkout who return to work would be without union protection for six months and on company probation for a year. In addition, several workers who joined the strike after the first day were considered by the bosses to have quit their jobs, but may be rehired if they reapply. Strikers told the Militant that the company had begun calling people back to work out of seniority and were passing over many more than the 19.

Under the new contract, "If you're one minute late to work, or forget to sterilize your knife, they can fire you," said José Montano, one of the fired workers. The strikers are supposed to be called back gradually over the next 30 days, and if their jobs have been filled with replacement workers, the strikers must start at the bottom with the lowest pay, despite many having several years seniority at Washington Beef.

Manuel Rangel, a kill-floor worker for a decade at the company, said workers went on strike in part to respond to company-imposed speedup on the job. "Over the past two years the company has increased the number of cows we kill each day by 125, but with the same number of workers," he said. "This has meant a big increase in injuries."

At a Militant Labor Forum October 26 in Seattle, striker Augustin López said there has been "a lot of mistreatment of the workers at Washington Beef. People have been written up by the company for going to the rest room. If you stand up for your rights, supervisors will try to find a way to fire you."

The expired contract was the first between the union and the company, and many workers saw the negotiations as a chance to fight for a raise and adequate medical benefits. Most workers at Washington Beef start at $6.72 per hour and top out at $8.50. They receive few benefits and have no dental or vision coverage.

"Our unity was forged through fights for pay and rights on the floor everyday," Juan Serrano told the Seattle audience. "We have support from workers inside the plant because the people on the inside don't want what the company is giving them. In the beginning workers who went out were angry with those who didn't. Some workers who didn't strike called in sick and some came out to join us. We made it clear that we were not there to hurt those who were still working. We kept up communications with them using cell phones, so we knew everything that was going on. Several would stop by the picket line after work," he said.

"We are in it to make a change not just for us but for everyone," he said. "We want to extend this around the country. We want to show workers that they can do it, they can fight for what is right, for what we all need."  
 
 
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