Guillermo Vasquez, a 24-year-old furniture department worker and one of the protest organizers, said the bosses announced that workers would have to be available for work 24 hours a day and that schedules were no longer guaranteed, even for those who have worked at Wal-Mart for years. Workers' schedules were reduced from 40 hours a week to, in some cases, 8, 6, or no hours. The company also instituted a new policy on sick leave, forcing workers to call a phone number to get a code to excuse an absence. Workers can be fired if they exceed a certain number of absences in a six-month period. Attacks on the workers by management at Wal-Mart Stores, the largest U.S. retailer, has included wage caps and use of more part-time workers. Following the walk-out, company officials told workers they would get back their weekly 40-hour schedule for now. Many workers say they have also been told that management will attempt to vary the schedules from week to week beginning next year.

—Deborah Liatos  
 
New Zealand meat workers
win fight for contract
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand—Dressed in white overalls with cow masks, cowbells, and wooden clackers for hooves, 11 members of the New Zealand Meat Workers union from the Southmore meat processing plant and their supporters picketed Countdown supermarket headquarters in Sydenham October 16. Joining them were several workers from the Progressive warehouse distribution centers, who had recently won their fight for higher pay. The Council of Trade Unions called the protest to support the Southmore workers' fight to close the average hourly gap of NZ $6.00 (about US$4) between their pay and that of other meat workers. The Southmore plant is owned by Progressive Enterprises. It processes beef, lamb, pork, and chicken.

Four days after the picket, Southmore workers approved a contract with a 3.5 percent raise with back pay. While this falls short of the 12 percent workers had been fighting for, union member Liz Blakely told the Militant, “The win for us is we got the back pay and a one-year contract that lines us up with the Foodmore workers.” Foodmore, a meat processing plant in Auckland organized by the National Distribution Union, is also owned by Progressive.

The settlement follows three walkouts, including a weeklong strike in July and two 48-hour strikes in September. During the September strikes, Southmore workers joined picket lines with warehouse distribution center workers who were locked out by Progressive Enterprises for four weeks.

— Ruth Gray
 
 
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