Tagged as food processing

For UFCW members who work on the line in the food processing or meat packing industries, you know that the clock can be your best friend or your worst enemy – especially for workers who work in plants that use “gang time” to determine how much workers will be paid. When your plant uses gang time, compensable time begins when the first piece arrives at the beginning of the line and ends when the last leaves the beginning of the line. But often, workers on subsequent parts of the line end up working longer because equipment failures or USDA inspections slow the line down.

When it comes to your paycheck, every second counts. As stewards, we play an important role in plants where gang time is a factor. It is critical that we monitor the work day clock to ensure that our co-workers are paid properly for the work they do. Making sure the company doesn’t steal our time is part of the steward’s job: it protects workers’ rights and makes sure the company follows the contract we all negotiated and agreed to.

Connie Kimbe is a steward at the Tyson beef plant in Sioux City, Iowa and member of UFCW Local 222. She started at the plant in 1982, and has been a steward since 1987. Even though she’s in her seventies, Kimbe has not retired because of the commitment she feels to her co-workers. “I enjoy helping the people and being involved. Even well into my seventies I like to be a part of things and I’m enjoying it.”

As a steward, Kimbe keeps track of the time workers spend on the production line. “I have a stopwatch and I keep time from when they bring in the cattle, until they get all the way to the coolers. There are about ten critical parts in the line where work is likely to stop, or to be slowed, so I keep track of the minutes and seconds it takes to do each job,” Kimbe says.  “If any overtime happens after eight hours, I make sure to record it. Sometimes the company tries to get away with it, but everyone needs to be paid properly – that’s in our union contract, but more importantly, it’s also just the right thing to do for the people.”

In order to be a better steward and advocate to her workers, Kimbe keeps documentation on all the time logs for the production line. She also makes several copies to give to the general foreman, union representative, human resources, and one to keep for herself. Once paychecks come out a week later, she follows up to ensure that all time worked shows up in the paychecks.  If there is a problem, she is armed with the records and documentation to address the company and resolve the issue.

The production line in meat packing and production plants can stop for myriad reasons. In some cases it is an equipment malfunction. “We have an old plant,” Kimbe says, “so equipment breaking down is a factor for us sometimes.” Most of the time work is stopped so the USDA can perform inspections and make sure there’s no contamination. “The inspectors are there for the public’s safety, and we want the public to be safe. But the inspectors’ time shouldn’t negatively affect workers’ time,” Kimbe says.

Having a union on the job ensures that workers have decent hours and receive fair wages for those hours. If work in the production line stops, it is important that stewards accurately track and document it so that our co-workers get paid for the time they worked, and receive what is promised in their contracts. As stewards we cannot let the company intimidate us or keep our co-workers from fair treatment. It is our responsibility to serve as advocates for workers in terms of overtime and fair payment. Stewards can take a lot of pride in the roles we play in the food processing and meat packing industries because we are protecting our co-workers’ contracted rights and way of life.

Early in November of 2011, the UFCW hosted a Global Meat Conference for meat packing workers from all over the world in Omaha, Nebraska. The two-day conference focused on the challenges workers face with the growth and consolidation of international meat companies like JBS and Cargill.

Thanks to consolidation and globalization, just a handful of companies dominate this billion dollar industry, and their power is growing year after year. That means challenges for workers who want to share in the success of their companies – whether those workers are in the U.S., Brazil, Japan or any other country.

Meat packing and food processing workers face the same basic challenges all over the world: inadequate crewing, disregard for ergonomics and safety, improper handling of hazardous materials like ammonia, downward pressure on wages and benefits, and a lack of dignity on the job.

Unfortunately, globalization and consolidation don’t necessarily raise standards for workers – the opposite is often true. For instance, at the Global Meat Conference, workers from all over the world met each other to speak and compare working conditions. They discovered that although they may share the same employer or parent company, their working conditions could be markedly different. For instance, workers from the U.S. or Australia may have strong union contracts, but workers in other countries are systematically denied bathroom breaks, or forced to work for weeks without a day off. They also learned that companies in every corner of the globe work to systematically deny workers who want a voice on the job from joining together with their co-workers in a union.

If companies like JBS, Tyson, and Cargill are global in their scope, our union must act globally, too. That is why UFCW members are communicating and coordinating with workers who belong to other meat packing unions around the world. We are routinely meeting; sharing information and developments; and coordinating on contract language that prevents exploitative or dangerous practices. These are effective ways to build the power that lets us negotiate better contracts and raise the working and living standards for everyone who works in this industry – both in the U.S. and abroad.

Dan Riesner is a UFCW steward from Local 222 in Iowa who works at the Gelita plant in Sergeant Bluff. He is tasked with the maceration of beef bones in acid, and assigned to the operation of a wash tank. The experience meeting workers in his industry from all over the globe really drove home to him how important it is for workers to band together, even across international borders.

“By sharing information with each other, union workers can learn about strategies and tactics that are effective in pressuring companies to come to the table and agree to fair, respectful working conditions,” Riesner said.

“It’s been a real eye-opener. Our strong union contracts mean we have it pretty good here in the U.S., comparatively, but we can’t take it for granted. If we don’t want consolidation and globalization to bite us – we need to kick up our efforts to organize and to stick together when we bargain.”