Vol. 72/No. 49      December 15, 2008

The pro-union vote has added significance because it comes almost two years after immigration agents raided the plant, arresting 158 workers. Of these workers, 124 faced state and federal charges of using false identity papers.

In an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune after the vote, Bernardo Ponce, a worker with 14 years in the plant, said that the company “just kept taking things away. We wanted the union to make a change.” Ponce said he was influenced by friends who work at the union-organized Swift plant in Greeley, Colorado.

Johnny Garland, who has worked at the plant 13 months, said the workers “are just tired about how they’ve been treated. There’s no respect here. The biggest benefit is having a voice at work.”

Of the ballots cast, 649 voted for the union and 290 against union representation.

The 2006 raid at the Hyrum plant was part of a nationwide raid by agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at six Swift plants. Nearly 1,300 workers in all were arrested. The other five plants were union.

The UFCW represents about 40 percent of meatpacking workers in the United States.
 
 
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Meat packers arrested by ‘migra’ speak out at Iowa public meeting  
 
 
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