COMMUNITY TAKES TO THE STREET IN SUPPORT OF STRIKING WORKERS
Striking Tyson Workers Step Up Pressure on Poultry Giant,Corydon, Indiana

Hundreds of community and union members took to the streets of Corydon today to support the more than 250 striking workers'  battle against Tyson. Today's events are part of the growing movement among all Tyson workers to demand justice from the poultry and food processing giant. The poultry industry in the United States is booming. Productivity is up 600 percent. Profits are up 300 percent, yet real wages have fallen. The people who labor on the line are not benefitting from their hard work and experience.

The workers in Corydon, mostly local residents and long term employees, have seen their rights and dignity on the job worsen since Tyson took over the plant two years ago. Tyson has taken decent jobs from workers in Corydon and made them worse. Workers from a Tyson Foods plant in Vienna, Georgia drove to Corydon today to show their unity with the striking workers. Tyson workers from Corydon and Vienna agree, working conditions under Tyson are worse than they have experienced under other management.

The workers' struggle for dignity and decency in the workplace has caught the attention and support from people across the country. The National Baptist Convention-USA, Inc., the largest African-American denomination in the country, asked its churches not to buy Tyson chicken products for any of their church functions. People of faith are reaching out in support of their struggle for justice and dignity.

The more than 250 poultry workers, members of the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 227, were forced on strike over management demands to eliminate paid breaks for workers, reduce overtime pay rates, and gut contract protections. Tyson rejected workers' proposals for safer food handling and processing that were designed to protect consumers.

When fully staffed, the plant processes more than 600,000 chickens a week or over 2,000 birds per worker per week. With $7.5 billion in sales and $345.8 million in operating profit, Tyson is three times larger than its closest competitors. Average wages at the Indiana plant, $7.68 an hour, are more than a dollar an hour less than industry average.

United Food and Commercial Workers International Union: A Voice for Working America