Cram Spam Please Fam
1987Linda Kellam 1987-08Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 4 →
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AUSTIN, Minn.—Two years ago, in August 1985, the members of Local P-9 (since reorganized as the North American Meatpackers Union, NAMPU) went on strike against the concessions on wages and safety issues demanded by the Hormel meatpacking company. Hormel is the major employer in this town.
On the weekend of July 4th, Hormel celebrated its victory over the striking workers. The celebration took place in the guise of events marking the 50th anniversary of its canned-meat product, SPAM.
The corporate media around the country embraced Hormel's appropriation of the 4th of July. Numerous articles prattled on about "healing the wounds" of the strike. The company and SPAM were glorified as the symbol of corporate heroism in the '80s.
Instead, what this visitor to Austin saw (I had joined 100-or-so Twin Cities strike supporters who came down Postal workers have reached a tentative contract settlement with the U.S. Postal Service that will provide raises of between $1700 and $1866 over the next 40 months.
The 580,000 members of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) and the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the two major unions, will get an immediate increase of 2 percent. Subsequent across-the-board increases in 1988, 1989, and 1990 will raise wages 7 percent.
Postal workers now earn between $20,0940 and $27,089, not including benefits.
While even small wage raises are gratifying when so many workers are forced to take paycuts, a more important issue concerned the postal workers.
Part-time "two-tier"
Since contract negotiations began on April 21, management's main demands have been for the establishment of a large, low-paid, part-time workforce. The Postal Service would like to follow in the footsteps of the United Parcel Servicewhere most of the workers are part-time and most will never get to become full-time employees.
The Postal Service's planned new workforce would consist of two parts. The number of "casuals" permitted to work would be doubled by the new proposals. Casuals are temporary part-time workers whose term of employment is not supposed to exceed 89 days at one time. Casuals are paid only $5 an hour and have no benefits or rights to union representation at all.