Dakota Premium employs a little more than 200 workers, and kills and cuts some 800 head of cattle a week. The big majority are workers born in Mexico or other Latin American countries. There are also some workers who are Black, Chicano, and white. Over the past six months the company has jacked up the speed of the production line to carry through a huge increase in production. This forced march has resulted in numerous on-the-job injuries.

On June 1, workers carried out a sit-down strike against these conditions. That action served as a launching pad for the ongoing fight by the workers to organize themselves into Local 789 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union. On June 12, some 200 meat packers and their supporters marched from the union hall to the plant gate as part of this campaign.

More than half of the workers have signed cards indicating they want the UFCW in the plant. A union representation election is scheduled for July 21.

Four workers in the kill department quit under pressure from the company June 23 after management cut their wages and in some cases forced them to do jobs that were previously done by two people. "We are talking to people about the need to stay in the plant and fight these abuses. We know they were all union supporters," said Amy Roberts, a worker in the boning department who supports the union campaign.

Workers in the cut and kill department told the Militant that the top bosses have been organizing meetings with small groups of workers every day, repeating many of the same false statements about the union they have been saying since the start of the organizing drive, and trying to portray themselves as benevolent figures who can solve workers' problems if given a chance.

Workers report that a lawyer hired by the company was present at all the meetings. If you vote for the union, "it will be a union representative and me who will be deciding your fate, not you, and you don't want that," the lawyer told the packinghouse workers.

Steve Cortinas, Dakota Premium's manager, was present at some of the company meetings with the mostly Spanish-speaking workforce. "Making references to the union election and union representation, Cortinas told us that workers had to have 'legal documents in order' and that the company lawyer was there to clarify any questions," Matías Loya told the Militant. "He also said that anywhere from $4 to $44 dollars will be discounted from our paycheck every week for union dues."

Issue number four of The Workers' Voice, the pro-union newsletter of the workers at Dakota Premium, answered on June 28 what the company had stated the previous day at these meetings. "All workers have a right under the law to vote in a union election, regardless of citizenship or immigration status. Unions are not here to investigate workers, they are here to represent them," the newsletter stated.

The company then invited workers to a hotel after work that day. "Cortinas told us he was concerned about the workers being quiet in the meetings with the company and that no one was asking any questions," said Loya. "He urged us to go meet with the lawyer at the hotel if we didn't feel comfortable doing it with supervisors in the plant."

"How dumb do they think we are?" stated the headline of The Workers' Voice. "We know the company is paying that lawyer. And we know that the attorney will report everything we say back to Cortinas," it read. The newsletter called on workers to report any unfair treatment by the company to the union organizing committee. It also carried an ad for a rally and march sponsored by workers striking several Twin Cities hotels, encouraging all packinghouse workers to attend.

"There were about 18 workers at the meeting at the hotel when I was there," reported Samuel Farley, a supporter of the union. "The company had gone all out, with quite a spread of food and beer and wine," he added. "In the meeting, company head of personnel Evelyn Ojeda argued against the union by saying, 'If you bring the union in the plant it will be like having two companies and you will be in the middle. Isn't it better that you meet with the company directly?' she told us," Farley reported.

"But the union is not a company," said Farley, "our problem is the company, not the union. The union is not the one that is making money off our labor, nor is it the one that speeds up the line, nor the one cutting the wages of workers in the kill. It's the company that is responsible for the injuries on the line and then forces us to work while injured," he stated.

"We have to go toe-to-toe answering this," said Miguel Olvera, also a union supporter. "The company does not hesitate in giving people beer, wine, and food on the one hand, and cutting your wages on the other. But our union meeting last week was the largest yet," he said.

Olvera described the meeting. "About 90 workers from out of both the cut and kill came to the union hall that day and we had quite a discussion," he said. "A lot of workers talked about the dangers of some leaders or workers being bought off by the company, and someone asked what would happen if we lost the election. I think the best answer was given by one of the veteran workers in our plant. He said last time the company was organizing its drive to get rid of the union eight years ago, they paid some people off and spent a lot of money paying the tab of all the workers at the local bar.

"But this time it will be different," this worker told those at the meeting, "We are a lot stronger this time."

Tom Fisher is a textile worker in Minnesota.  
 
 
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