"The kill floor! Fabrication! We fought and we did it!" chanted jubilant plant workers to thousands of spectators who lined the parade route for the Cinco de Mayo celebration in South Omaha. In recognition of the victory, members of the local carpenters union shared space with the meat packers on their parade trailer. The unionists held up hand-lettered signs in Spanish that read, "We won the union at ConAgra!" and "United we triumphed!" People responded with thumbs up, applause, and shouts of "Sí se puede!" (yes we can).

"We marched to show, first of all, that if we fight, we can win. The crowd responded very positively to our fight", said Rubén Sandovar, a kill floor worker with 24 years at the plant.

This election win was a rebound from a representation election in November 2000 in which the union lost the vote 238-150. Defeated but not crushed, veterans of that organizing drive regrouped. They founded a new workers committee that confidently led workers throughout the hard-fought campaign. "This time around we weren’t afraid," said Juan Valadez, a leader of the committee. "We’ve learned a lot throughout this fight."

"The workers at the front of this fight always knew we were capable of winning. I’m so happy that we won this victory, which at one time we had thought would be impossible," said Eleuterio Valadez, a 25-year veteran at the plant. He participated in a 1980 strike to win a union that ended in defeat.

One of the key organizing tools used by the workers committee throughout the drive was an in-plant fact sheet entitled La Neta--slang for "the truth." It has been embraced by workers at the plant as a newsletter that tells it like it is, responding to company attacks and updating workers on developments in their fight. Members and supporters of the workers committee have organized distribution of each issue of La Neta throughout the day, starting at 5:15 a.m. in the parking lot of the plant.

Published from its inception in Spanish and English, La Neta included a "union yes" message in Arabic in a recent issue. This was an important step, taken by the workers committee to draw co-workers who have immigrated from the Sudan into the struggle. One such worker helped with the translation.

As election day approached, the confidence of the workers grew. A Sí se puede! hand signal spread throughout the plant, with workers holding up three fingers to each other signifying May 3. Boisterous hook and knife banging, and shouts of "Sí se puede!" sporadically erupted as workers voiced their unity. One day a boss "came into our area, the tripe room," said one kill floor worker. "We all screamed ‘Sí se puede!’ and ‘Fuera!’ (get out). He left in 10 seconds, red-faced."

La Neta encouraged co-workers to listen to La Máquina Musical, the only Spanish-language radio station in town, before and after work. Working together with a UFCW official, five leaders of the workers committee wrote and recorded messages for the program, encouraging their co-workers to vote "union yes" on May 3. The punchy messages, accompanied by background mariachi music, were heard by Latino workers throughout Omaha. "Many co-workers heard the messages. It helped a lot," said Sandovar.

Father Damian Zuerlein, pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, sent a mailing to parishioners and meat packers, inviting them to attend a solidarity Mass followed by a lunch. "Courageous and wise workers have decided to lead this effort. I applaud them and encourage you to join them in their efforts to build solidarity among the workers."

About 400 people packed the church, including nearly 100 meat packers from various plants. Organizing drive leaders Tiberio Chávez and Olga Espinoza addressed the gathering, updating supporters on their fight and urging continued solidarity.

The company campaigned throughout the drive to try to intimidate workers and undermine the union’s growing support. In addition to a 30-cent pay raise, they put on a chicken dinner to "congratulate workers on tremendous production." One worker, seeing through the tactic, screamed "Chicken yes! Union yes!" La Neta helped to counter this company tactic.

A barrage of antiunion literature, full of lies and distortions, was posted regularly in locked glass display cases. "It had to be protected behind glass," said Lisa Rottach, a kill floor worker. "Things they posted in the open were quickly removed by workers." Copies of a newspaper article with an antiunion bias were also distributed by the company in the cafeteria the day before the election.  
 
Turning the tables on the company
The company also began to organize a series of captive-audience meetings of roughly 30 workers in early morning hours and after work. Many workers resented having to sit through the litany of misinformation, off production hours, and with no opportunity to speak. During the second round of meetings, workers organized to chant "Sí se puede!" at the end of the meeting, shocking bosses with their shouts. Subsequent meetings fell flat, with most workers not attending.

In a last-ditch effort on May 1 to convince workers to "entrust their future to the company," the bosses stopped production for a half hour in both the fabrication and kill departments. At the end of their meeting, fabrication workers erupted into chants of "Sí se puede!" and "Union!" On the kill floor, leaders of the committee got wind of the impending meeting and organized a response over lunch. When the chain stopped, workers were herded into the large kill room, with carcasses still hanging on the line. Two company officials appealed for calm to be able to begin the event, as the raucous and enthusiastic chanting was drowning them out.

The would-be antiunion meeting was rapidly transformed. The bosses replayed their same plea to trust the company, claiming that the union cannot improve working conditions and that there is no cap on union dues. When they asserted that workers already have a voice at ConAgra, one Black worker demanded to be given the microphone. At the end of the appeal, management thanked workers and told them it was time to go back to work.

Olga Espinoza raised her hand, and with other leaders of the workers committee, moved to the platform. When it became clear the bosses would not cede the floor, workers chanted in Spanish, "Let her speak." The company official reluctantly gave her the mike. Another leader shoehorned her way to the front to translate Espinoza’s comments into English.

"My intention in going up there to speak was to show others that there’s no reason to be afraid, that everyone needs to be fearless," said Espinoza. Before the assembled workers, she demanded to know why the company hasn’t made any safety improvements to the dangerous area where a mechanic, Tiberio Chávez, had fallen. The company responded that her question could be answered in the office, then turned off the sound equipment and sent everyone back to work.

Workers, groups of union officials, and students from Creighton University, as well as members of Omaha Together One Community, turned out for a plant gate rally May 2, greeting workers with shouts of support as they exited the plant.

On election day some 50 supporters arrived at 4:30 a.m. for a rally at the plant gate. A couple of dozen workers distributed La Neta in the parking lot with the message, "Fabrication, Kill floor--united--will never be defeated. Vote yes!" As music played and maracas rattled, the crowd encouraged workers as they entered the plant.

A dozen or so workers stayed past quitting time to witness the count. As the "yes" votes began to pull ahead, the workers held back from a victory celebration until the government officials completed their official tally sheet.

"I thought I was going to faint from happiness," said Juan Valadez. "This fight has just begun," Olga Espinoza added. "We fought to win this victory, but now we must keep fighting to win a contract."

Workers have scheduled a meeting to "plan out the next steps for a good contract. We are the union," reported La Neta.
 
 
Related articles:
‘I wish you success in your struggle’  
 
 
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