News and Views
November 7, 2005
Tyson employees have voted to ratify a first collective agreement, ending their strike against the Lakeside Packers plant that began on October 12. Read press release
November 3,2005
A tentative deal has been reached that would give workers at one of Canada's largest meat packers their first contract. Read article
October 31, 2005
View on how Tyson's refusal to agree to a first contract is hurting workers, taxpayers, and Alberta's reputation. Read article
October 31, 2005
After hearing reports of workers wetting their pants because they weren't allowed to take a bathroom break, Alberta's labour minister says he wants a first-hand look inside the Tyson plant to check reports that workers are sometimes forced to remain on the production line for hours without a break. But he says not until after the labor dispute is over. He also says he won't consider changes to the Alberta labor laws until the dispute is settled as well. Read article
October 28, 2005
Meat inspectors are ordered to return to the Tyson plant, and a judge orders Local 401 workers to allow them to enter the plant. Read article
October 27, 2005
About 200 mourners attend the funeral of two workers who lost their lives in a car accident the previous week. Read article
October 27, 2005
Meat inspectors won't cross the picket line at Tyson's Lakeside Packers, shutting out production for the past three days. At the same time, Premier Ralph Klein says his government will consider first-contract legislation in light of the bitterness and violence of the Brooks strike.
Read article
October 24, 2005
Over the weekend, Tyson continued construction on a new road through fields surrounding the plant. The gravel strip runs parallel to a service road behind Lakeside and links to the plant every few hundred metres. Union workers plan to have pickets at each entrance on Monday, halting any vehicles trying to reach the plant. Read article
October 21, 2005
Two strikers were killed and four were injured Thursday night in a collision on a road not far from the Lakeside Packers plant. Police said there is no indication the collision was the result of any strike-related conflict. Read article
October 19, 2005
Late Tuesday, the Alberta Labour Relations Board ruled that pickets could delay vehicles for only three minutes -- the striking workers had been stopping each car and truck for up to nine minutes. The three-minute rule applies to single cars and entire groups of vehicles leaving or arriving. Read article
October 19, 2005
Tyson tries to demoralize strikers by sending in many buses "full" of scab workers willing to cross the picket lines. But union workers can see buses are not full. With windows screened, only a small number of workers crowd the front of the bus to give the illusion that the bus is full. Strikers continue to delay traffic crossing picket lines. Read article
October 18, 2005
Strikers were able to prevent production at the plant from resuming Monday, Oct. 17, and delayed scab workers from entering the site for several hours. Picketers held up hundreds who were trying to reach a staging site near the meat-packing facility for an average of nine minutes. Read article
October 15, 2005
Doug O'Halloran, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers, was hurt Friday night in a three-vehicle collision near the entrance to Lakeside Packers after Tyson officials force his car off the road. Read article
October 14, 2005
When Peter Jany left war-torn Sudan, he was looking for job dignity in a country he believed would offer that respect. He's hopeful a strike that began Wednesday at Tyson, where workers seek their first negotiated contract, will mark the first step in that journey. Read article
September 30, 2005
Tyson rejects a provincial mediator's contract agreement, even though Local 401 workers vote 90 percent to accept it. But Tyson knows its the boss, and has the government eating out of its hand. When the workers voted to strike in July, the government intervened and halted the strike. But now that its cold on the picket lines, the government is staying out of the dispute. Read article
August 11, 2005
After complaining to Tyson Foods about the posting of a "Whites Only" sign on one of Tyson's restrooms at its Ashland, Ala., facility, two black employees were subjected to adverse personnel actions by Tyson management, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleges in a discrimination lawsuit. Read article
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