| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE June 20, 2000 |
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Omaha Renewal: Union, Youth and Community Activists Give Voice to the New Immigrant Workforce of Omaha Area Packing Industry A new wave of immigration has brought a renewed fight for a workers' voice in the largely non-union Omaha area meat packing industry. Where once immigrants from Central and Southern Europe sweated and suffered in the slaughterhouses and processing lines until their churches and union rallied to transform their jobs and their lives into the mainstay of Omaha's middle class, today immigrants from Latin America struggle against wages and working conditions that are reminiscent of the 19th century. Once again their churches and their union are mobilizing to organize immigrant workers to protect human dignity, improve wages, and reduce injuries. The 1.4 million member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and Omaha Together, One Community (OTOC) launched a comprehensive program today to give an organized voice to meat packing workers. Union, community, and religious leaders laid out the case for unionization at a kickoff rally today that was followed by hand billing at the ConAgra plant in South Omaha. Real wages for workers have been cut in half since 1970, annual turnover rates have skyrocketed to over 100 percent, and meat packing has become the most dangerous occupation in the country. At the same time, net profits fro the companies have risen over 250 percent and production has more than tripled. "The packinghouse industry wants a low wage, disposable workforce that it can beat, cheat, and dump. Profits are up, and human dignity is down. Workers and community united will change the equation, and bring dignity and a decent standard of living back to packinghouse workers," said UFCW representative Mark Lauritsen. The UFCW called on the children and grandchildren of past waves of immigration to stand with today's immigrant workers. "We all have immigrant roots, and our parents and grandparents faced the same exploitation and the same brutal conditions. Then, as now, the union is the key that unlocks the door to the American dream. We will draw on our past to lead the fight for the future," said Lauritsen. Youth activists from the AFL-CIO's Union Summer program joined with the UFCW and community organizations in the worker mobilization effort. For the past several weeks, students from across the country have been hand billing and meeting with workers to build a strong base of worker support that can withstand the anticipated employer counterattack on the unionization effort. According to charges filed today with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), ConAgra has already started a program of intimidation, threats, and surveillance to coerce employees in the exercise of their rights. In the charges filed with the NLRB, the UFCW outlined allegations of worker lockers being searched, union material being confiscated and destroyed, and workers being threatened for discussing the union with each other. The UFCW also put the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on notice that a "labor dispute" exists at several area packing plants. Under INS operating procedures, the INS is not to engage in any enforcement or other action that would interfere with the legal rights of workers. The UFCW emphasized that, regardless of immigration status, workers have the same right to join a union, to have a safe workplace, to receive compensation for workplace injuries, and to be paid overtime. Operation Vanguard, INS's controversial enforcement action that singled out Nebraska packing plants, came under special attack. "Vanguard is the problem, not the solution. Disrupting the workforce and production at the plants, and terrorizing workers will only bring worse conditions to the community. Organizing is the solution. The union brings stable jobs, decent wages, and lower turnover and injury rates. Workers will have economic security for their families and allow them to be a vital part of the community," according to Lauritsen. The UFCW committed to the mobilization program for as long it takes. The union anticipates a multi-year effort to bring a voice and representation to the more than 4,000 non-union packing house workers of the Omaha area. |
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