Aaron, who is 23 years old, and 27-year-old Tammy Bowlin, attended the conference to build support for the fight of poultry workers at the Cagle-Keystone plant in Albany, Kentucky. The two workers were recently fired by the bosses, but that did not diminish their sense of urgency or determination to fight for a union.

After six months on the job, Aaron was dismissed when she developed carpal tunnel syndrome in both her hands. The disease is a repetitive motion disorder that damages the nerves in the hands and wrist. "The doctor released me to go back to work after just three weeks, but I was still too hurt to work," she said. In the brief period she worked in the plant the line speed doubled.

"It's very unsafe, bloody, dirty, cold, and in some areas it's very wet. When I started we did 70 birds a minute. When I was fired, the line was running 140 birds a minute. Every minute."

Among other issues Aaron and her co-workers are fighting around are the right to go to the bathroom and to get medical attention when a worker gets hurt.

Bowlin was fired when, along with eight other co-workers, she put on a union T-shirt one morning at work. "I'm 100 percent for the union. We shouldn't have to be treated like dogs. We have to fight. It cannot get any worse."

The two young women workers report that 600 out of 850 workers at Cagle-Keystone have signed cards to become members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). A union election last December was blocked when the National Labor Relations Board ruled that a fair election was not possible.

One example of the company's antiunion tactics is the firing of 41 of 62 union organizers, in addition to suspending 58 workers. Since December, 200 unfair labor practices have been filed by the union against the company.

According to a UFCW flier, millions of tax dollars in Kentucky were spent on building the one-year-old plant. And Aaron and Bowlin report that under the Kentucky Rural Economic Development law, the state also allows the company to take $20 out of every worker's paycheck to cover the cost of the building. "We have to pay for being able to work in the plant," explained Aaron.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home