“The local is working vigorously in defense of Miguel Olvera’s job. We are sparing no expense, nor time and energy to fight with every means we have to win Olvera’s job and all the lost pay and benefits caused by this unjust firing,” said Don Seaquist, president of UFCW Local 789.

The firing occurred shortly after the company issued disciplinary warnings to dozens of union members in an effort to force workers to work harder and faster, cleaning more meat off bones than previously. This initial campaign, which took place last summer, was countered by Local 789 with a petition demanding the company halt the practice of calling workers into the office and reprimanding them for “dirty bones.” After more than 90 workers signed the petition, the bosses halted the warnings.

Unionists at the December 14 meeting decided to get the truth out about the company’s strategy of victimizing union leaders in the plant in an effort to weaken the entire union. Workers also decided to circulate a petition among union members in the plant to get support for the demand that Olvera be reinstated.

Two days later, an in-plant union newsletter, the Workers Voice, was distributed in the boning department with a statement by Olvera explaining the facts surrounding his firing. “Brothers and sisters from work I would like to extend an invitation to you to stand united and fight together and to defend our rights because today it was me and tomorrow it could be any of you,” Olvera says in the statement.

The leaflet explained that the fight to get Olvera’s job back has big stakes for the whole union and working conditions in the plant. It also announced that Local 789 is filing a grievance on behalf of Olvera and an unfair labor practice charge against the company for illegally targeting union activists for firings and other disciplinary measures.

“This is a clear attack on the union and on all of us workers at Dakota,” the Workers Voice said. “Miguel [Olvera] and Salvador Sosa have been singled out because they are active in defending workers from the company. This includes those who are not being paid at the wage that they should earn by union contract. They are also active in signing up new members for the union. We feel the company wants to weaken the union so it can force the workers to do more production with the same number of workers and that this is part of a strategy of the company to attack the most active union workers.”

Since the union meeting, UFCW members at DPF’s boning department have collected over 75 signatures demanding Olvera be returned to his job. Workers said they plan to present the petition to the plant’s general manager.

The bosses walked Olvera out of the factory December 9, unionists said, claiming he was not doing his job up to company standards. Olvera has many years of boning experience and nine years of seniority in the plant. Until a few months ago, the company had never disciplined him for anything.

Olvera helped lead his co-workers to join the UFCW and take an active part in union affairs. His activities included helping lead a ground-breaking sit-down strike and union organizing drive in June 2000 in the South St. Paul slaughterhouse.

Rosen Diversified Inc.—which owns both Dakota Premium Foods and Long Prairie Packing in Long Prairie, Minnesota—has been stepping up attacks on Local 789. The local organizes both of these meatpacking plants and other facilities.

Other union militants have been disciplined for their work and face possible suspension and firing too. The company has also offered Quality Control (QC) positions to two UFCW shop stewards who were very active in organizing workers at Dakota into union fights against the company. The QC positions are privileged. Because of their semi-supervisory functions, workers in these positions are not in the union. One of the stewards has accepted the offer.

The most recent attack at Dakota came against union member Jacob Perasso. According to the company, Perasso was accused of trying to force a co-worker to take a union flier against his will. The Dakota bosses organized an intimidating “investigation” into the accusation and suspended him for “not cooperating,” Perasso said, when he sought to see a copy of the zero-tolerance policy that the company claimed it used to launch the investigation before answering questions. Perasso and his union steward were also denied the possibility of consulting with union officers at the time.

During the “investigation,” the bosses told Perasso and shop steward Montoya Guerrero that distributing union fliers without company permission is a violation of the union contract, the unionists said. Local 789 has filed a grievance against the suspension and has produced another edition of the Workers Voice. “The bosses at Dakota claimed recently that it violates union contract to distribute union fliers in the factory if we don’t have permission from the company bosses,” the new issue of the union newsletter says. “This is completely false and we will continue to read and distribute what we want.”

It continues, “Company bosses argue that they are not making enough profits. But the owners of Rosen have grown wealthy from our labor. Instead of using that wealth to ensure the well-being of the employees and their families, they want to force us to solve their profit crisis by further wearing down our hands, backs, and bodies by working harder and faster. The Rosen owners, and their salaried bosses, don’t face losing their homes nor their ability to feed their families as we do when our bodies wear out and we cannot do our jobs any longer.”  
 
 
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