Workers interviewed March 27 scoffed at the company’s claim that a routine internal audit had “discovered” that workers lacked proper documentation entitling them to work in the United States. Several pointed to a recent decline in production and the upcoming union contract expiration as real reasons for the mass firing.

“The company hired them with these documents, so why are they challenging them now?” said Marvin Harrington, president of UFCW Local 222, which organizes the 4,000 workers at the plant.

Tyson, based in Arkansas, is the world’s largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork. The Dakota City plant was IBP’s flagship beef slaughterhouse before it was taken over by Tyson in 2001. The majority of workers in the plant are originally from Mexico, Central America, or Asia.

“Our contract expires in a few months. The company is anticipating a strike and wants to weaken us and our union. Tyson is planning to lower our wages,” said a worker with five years in the plant, who asked not to be quoted by name.

“They continue to fire people every week. Many people are afraid. Many have left for their countries because there is nowhere else to get a job and they can’t make their house payments.”

She added, “My husband and I know they’ll probably call us into the office on our papers. But I tell my co-workers not to be afraid. They can’t kill us.”

Both this worker and her husband were hoping that a meeting for those who were fired or might face dismissal would be called to discuss how to respond to the company action.

“It’s an injustice. It’s not fair. The company knows who they are hiring,” said a Mexican-born worker who has worked at the plant for more than 10 years. “I think they are trying to get rid of a lot of people and hire new ones and pay them less. We had been working only 32 hours a week in recent months. Only in the last three or four weeks have we been getting 40 hours.”

Tyson, Excel, Swift, and other large meatpacking companies have all laid off workers in the wake of the discovery of a cow in Washington state with mad cow disease in December. The governments of Japan, Mexico, and other countries banned U.S. beef imports at that time. Beef slaughterhouses have been hit especially hard because, in addition to an overall decline in beef exports, items such as tongues, intestines and livers have been rendered virtually worthless because they are primarily purchased by overseas buyers. Tyson claims to have lost $61 million in three months due to the fallout from mad cow disease.

UFCW Local 222 president Harrington said he has filed several grievances because the company did not tell the union officials or the workers how it determined they did not have proper documentation.

Immigrant rights advocates organized a press conference to question Tyson’s explanation for the mass firings and highlight the human toll of the company’s callousness. Alma Luna, vice-president of the Siouxland Unidad Latina, told the Sioux City Journal, “We believe this action is due to a time when profits were down due to the mad cow scare.”

Tyson brought company spokesman Gary Mickelson to town in order to answer the critics. Cynically referring to the fired workers at “team members,” the Tyson mouthpiece said they misrepresented themselves to the company at the time they were hired. “In other words, they lied to us.”

Tyson reaps gigantic profits from its beef, pork, and poultry operations. Tyson exceeded $24 billion in sales revenues in 2003. The company employs tens of thousands of immigrant workers knowing they can pay them substandard wages. Mickelson claims that the company will eventually replace the fired workers.

After wrecking the livelihood of hundreds of working-class families in the area, Tyson announced in a statement that it would be donating a truckload of food items to a local food bank and making a financial contribution to an agency that works in the Latino community.

Workers throughout the region have been following this development. In Storm Lake, Iowa, 80 miles to the east, a worker at a large nonunion slaughterhouse owned by Tyson told the Militant, “We have heard about what is happening in Dakota City and that is why we want a union here.”

In 1969 workers at the Dakota City plant gained their first contract after a bitter nine-month strike. Workers struck the plant in 1972, 1977, and 1982.

David Rosenfeld is a meat packer and member of UFCW Local 271 in Omaha, Nebraska.  
 
 
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