The November 17 vote means maintenance workers will be represented by UFCW Local 271, and now face a fight for a contract.

Union supporters have been signing up meatpacking workers in the plants here since early last spring. The UFCW along with Omaha Together One Community (OTOC), an organization of 38 religious congregations, are working jointly to organize the estimated 4,000 packinghouse workers in the Omaha area.

Workers and supporters of the drive gathered the night of the elections at the UFCW-OTOC offices in South Omaha to hear results of the voting. Many workers discussed the increasing company harassment and promises by the company leading up to the vote.

Eleuterio Valadez, a kill floor worker with 23 years at the plant, said that two days before the vote there was a general meeting with the vice president of the company. "He displayed a chart with information that showed a union plant with a UFCW contract compared to the current setup here and how much better the pay now is."

A worker with 10 years at the plant, who asked that his name not be used, said, "The company made promises such as a 25 cent pay raise and more benefits as they urged workers to vote no. Now that the union has lost the election they will likely speed up the production line."

Marta Islas said that prior to the vote, Quality Control workers who support management would go around telling workers to vote no and how the union is not worth anything for us." Islas is a loin trimmer with nine years in the plant.

"They treat us real bad," said Islas as to why she helped lead the fight for a union in the plant. "I see the injustices that those with or without papers face. They pay us low wages and steal hours from us that we worked. For three months in the spring we usually average 32 hours a week" which "makes it very difficult to pay for child care."

UFCW officials said the union could file an objection to the election results and seek a new vote, but that if charges are filed, another election likely could not be held for a year, the officials pointed out.

Donna McDonald, president of UFCW 271, pointed out that at Con Agra's Armour Swift Eckrich, workers filed a petition for a representation election a few days before with the NLRB. The former Cudahy plant employs close to 200 meat processing workers and is located a few blocks from the ConAgra Northern Beef plant.

Roberto Guerrero is a meat packer and a member of UFCW Local 1149 in Perry, Iowa.  
 
 
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