Postal workers back Hormel strikers
1986 1986-09Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 5 →
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SOCIALIST ACTION SEPTEMBER 1986 5 Marathon Bough Blonde One year after going on strike against concessions and union-busting tactics, 850 families in Austin, Minn., continue their fight against Geo. Hormel & Co., a multi -national giant.
Six hundred supporters and strikers celebrated the first anniversary with a picnic and rally in an Austin public park on Aug. 17. The large crowd of picnickers indicated the solid support the strikers still enjoy.
The packinghouse workers recently gained valuable material aid and a boost to their morale from the American Postal Workers Union.
In defiance of official AFL-CIO policy, the Postal Workers union convention, held in San Francisco in mid-August, voted unanimously to adopt the families of six Hormel strikers. This means the union will donate $500 a month for the support of each family; a total of $3000 a month.
The International union will continue this support for two years, or whenever the strike is ended. The postal workers also passed the hat around the hall and collected $3119.
The resolution also called on the 3000 delegates to write letters to Hubert Humphrey IIl, the attorney General of Minnesota, demanding that he drop the phony rioting charges against 18 of the Hormel strike supporters. A motion to support a boycott of all Hormel products until the conflict is settled was also passed unanimously.
The convention voted to endorse the fight of the striking packinghouse workers after Buck Heegard, a worker at Hormel for 38 years, addressed the delegates.
In reporting this encouraging develop -ment, Jim Fisher, a spokesperson for the North American Meat Packers Union (Original Local P-9), pointed to the growing sympathy for the embattled workers. "We do not think we could have got this support six months ago," he told Socialist Action.
Because of the strike-breaking tactics of the UFCW International leadership, the Austin strikers have filed for re-registration as the North American Meat Packers Union (NAMPU/P-9).
The Austin Emergency Appeal, which is a legal defense committee set up to collect and disburse funds for the 18 strike sup -porters currently facing police charges, recently sent out a 5000-piece fundraising mailing.
Strike supporters are going door-to-door in the Minneapolis area explaining the union's case and appealing for funds. Money raised will be used for the union's legal bills and other needs.
The strikers are suffering hardship and need money. Even those who were eligible for unemployment compensation were cut off Aug. 17, one year after the walkout. Checks should be made out and sent to: Austin United Support Group, P.O. Box 396, Austin, MN 55912, Tel. (507) 4734110.
It will be a great day when our schools get S all the money they need, and the Navy has to hold a bake sale to buy a ship.
HUMAN NEEDS BEFORE PROFITS!
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