Labor must support Hormel strikers!

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Children of P-9 strikers at the Feb. 24 Minnesota AFL-CIO Legislative Conference in Twin Cities. Austin high-school students and P-9- strikers protested strikebreaking Gov. Rudy Perpich's address to labor gathering. THEM! KIDY DONT NEED GREED! R lenderson Socialist The strike of Local P-9 of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union against the Geo. A. Hormel & Co. in Austin, Minn., is in its seventh month. Against all odds, the striking packinghouse workers have stood firm.

This issue of Socialist Action features a special section on the P-9 strike with a response to the slanders of the company, the media, and the UFCW international [see pp. 7-10].

Local P-9 can win this strike. In order to win, two things are needed: One, the solidarity of labor unions and workers must be fully mobilized. And two, production at the Austin plant must be stopped.

The Hormel bosses know that the success of the strike depends on whether or not the Austin plant is permitted to operate. That is why, as soon as they decided to re-open the plant with scab labor, they got a strict injunction against union picketing.

This injunction is an illegal, immoral, and unjust infringement on the rights of P9 members.

The injunction abrogates P-9 members' constitutional right to picket to protect their jobs; the kind of mass picketing that forced the Hormel company to recognize unionism in the first place back in 1933.

In many cities solidarity rallies are being organized. In addition to the events listed on page 8, a rally with P-9 President Jim Guyette will take place in San Francisco on March 12, sponsored by Painters Local 4 and endorsed by UFCW Local 1100 and others. It will be held at the SEIU hall, 240 Golden Gate Ave., at 8 p.m.

The entire labor movement has a vital interest in helping P-9 workers win this strike. A P-9 victory would start to reverse the concessions tide-The Editors. Socialist Action/Joe Ryan