Working under brutal conditions and pushed to the limit by the bosses, workers in the Dakota plant, a beef slaughterhouse, staged a sit-down strike in June 2000, shutting down production. They refused to return to the line until the bosses addressed their demands. After holding out for more than seven hours, concessions were won from the company. A little more than a month later workers voted 112–71 to join United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 789.

The company has so far refused to enter into negotiations with the union or to recognize the UFCW as the workers' bargaining agent. The bosses have also tried to tie up and wear down the meat packers' struggle through multiple appeals to the National Labor Relations Board.

AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer Richard Trumka was a featured speaker at the rally. He noted the other unions present and said, "the fight by the Dakota workers is the fight of Local 17, is the fight of AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), it is the fight of all labor. We all must stand together." Local 17 is part of the Hotel Employees And Restaurant Employees Union, which has waged several struggles in the area.

The action had the backing of the St. Paul AFL-CIO and was attended by members of a number of other unions. Part of a national day of student labor action, the demonstration attracted youth from campuses in the state. Aside from Trumka, speakers at the event were Shar Knutson, president of the St. Paul AFL-CIO; Avi Lyon from the Jewish Labor Committee; and William Pearson, president of UFCW Local 789.

A few days later workers at the plant scored a victory when the National Labor Relations Board ruled for the third time against the appeal by Dakota Premium Foods contesting the results of the union election. The NLRB decision ruled that the company now had to start negotiations with the UFCW.

However, the company can appeal the final NLRB decision to a federal appeals court. "This [ruling] is just a procedural step so that we can get before the courts of this land for the first time, and that's probably what we will be doing," Kelly Berens, an attorney working for Dakota Premium, told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The company's appeals are widely seen by workers in the plant and by union officials as an attempt to stall the process of negotiating with the union and to weaken the determination of the workers

On Friday, April 12, copies of The Workers' Voice, the in-plant newsletter of the organizing campaign, carried the information about the NLRB ruling. "Workers in the boning department read the news with enthusiasm," said Olvera. "I think the ruling shows the company's weakness. The company hopes we are weakening. But the workers are not."

Samuel Farley is a worker in the boning department at Dakota Premium Foods.  
 
 
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