Hormel strikers stand strong despite odds
1985Jake Cooper 1985-10Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 1 →
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International Outlook: A new supplement. See pp. 7.14 MINNEAPOLIS-Unionists throughout the Midwest are coming to the aid of the packing-house workers in Austin, Minn., who are fighting for their union and their jobs at the Hormel Packing Co.
The workers, organized in Local P-9 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW), have been on strike since Aug. 14, when they rejected Hormel's proposal to cut wages and break the union.
As soon as they hit the bricks, the strikers set up a Support Committee to rally aid-mainly food and money.
As a veteran of the 1934 Teamsters' strike, 1 got involved in support activities in Minneapolis. We gained an immediate response.
Those who joined the Support Committee included steelworkers, autoworkers, railroad workers, oil workers, a teachers' organization, the letter carriers, electrical workers, construction workers, government workers, other UFCW locals, and other labor and religious groups.
A food caravan left from Ford Local 879 in St. Paul on Sept. 1. It was headed by about 50 motorcyclists. The caravan was about two miles long and wound around the Austin Hormel plant into a city park where about 800 to 900 workers gathered and various people spoke.
We had a 45-foot semitrailer filled from front to back. While we unloaded, the enthusiasm of the strikers was amazing. They couldn't believe we had brought so much food down to them.
CAMILIES Rally in support of Hormel strikers I haven't seen spirit like this since the '34 and '48 strikes, when we shut down the Armour, Swift and Cudahy plants. There was a national strike at the time.
Right now the strikers are in a critical situation. They've been out for over a month. According to a report on TV the (continued on page 5, in “Why the stakes are high in Hormel strike APERIS”)
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Staff: Paul Colvin, Suzanne Forsyth, May May Gong, Millie Gonzalez, Mark Harris, David Kirschner, Hayden Perry, Joe Ryan, Carole Seligman, Kwame M.A. Somburu, Marion Syrek, Sylvia Weinstein. ACTION
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LABOR FIGHTS BACK