Militant reporters spoke with meat packers in the days following the cancellation of the strike. The overwhelming majority say they need a union because of abusive treatment by the bosses, line speed, and injuries in the plant.

At 5:00 a.m. on July 20, some 1,000 workers gathered at the entrance to Lakeside’s property to initiate a strike after the company rejected the union’s proposal for binding arbitration. Using a bullhorn, Doug O’Halloran, president of Local 401, told the gathered workers that the strike had been called off due to the government order imposing a 60-day “cooling-off period.”

Many workers responded with outrage. Ahmed Hiraabe, who says he was fired for supporting the union two days before the aborted strike, said, “For three months the government mediator said a strike would be legal. Then, with no notice, they say it is illegal.”

“We were shocked and disoriented by the government’s action,” said Peter Jany, a processing worker who helped to lead the successful union-organizing drive a year ago and is a member of the union’s 23-person bargaining committee. “Many thought the union should not have called the strike off.”

Monica Deng, a member of the bargaining committee, moved to Canada from Sudan four years ago. “I thought Canada was a democracy country, a human rights country,” she said, condemning the government order. “I thought a big plant like Lakeside would have a union, but we are treated like slaves.”

Union officials have organized a door-to-door and plant gate campaign to explain to workers that the government, not the union, was responsible for declaring the cooling-off period. Union staff members have greeted workers at shift changes with a large sign saying, “The government sold you out. Not the Union. We’re here to stay.”

In April 2004, about 150 workers, many of them Sudanese immigrants, organized a rally in the company parking lot to protest unsafe conditions, company favoritism, abusive treatment by bosses, and the firing of three sanitation workers. After the protest, some 70 workers were fired.

Jany, who was one of the leaders of the protest, tried to convince the company to reinstate the fired workers and address their grievances. When the company rebuffed his efforts, he said he would commit himself to bringing the union into the plant. Last August, 80 percent of the workforce took part in a union representation election, and 51 percent voted for UFCW Local 401.

The organizing drive brought together workers who hail from many parts of the world. At least 16 languages are spoken in the plant and 60 percent of the workers were born outside of Canada, many in East Africa or Asia.

At mass meetings on June 17 and 18 attended by the big majority of the workforce—one held in the town of Brooks and the other in Medicine Hat—workers voted by a 70 percent margin to strike to get their first contract.

Tofik Siyo, originally from Ethiopia, reported that he was fired after he injured his back on the job. “We need a union because people are treated like slaves. You get sick and they don’t like you: you get fired,” he said.

Worker after worker expressed similar sentiments. Referring to the color of the hard hats worn by bosses, one worker said, “You can’t complain or say anything to the green-hats or black-hats. If you do, they say, ‘the door is open’” for them to quit.

Solomon, a processing worker, said, “I am from Ethiopia and came from a refugee camp in Sudan. I expected Canada to be better, to be good for workers. But it is not.” Like others who were interviewed, he held up his swollen, injured hand.

“Almost all the maintenance workers sided with the union this time,” said Reuben Mayo, 55, an electrician who is a member of the bargaining committee and has worked at Lakeside for eight years. “This wasn’t true at other times. My conditions aren’t too bad, but I know what the production workers face every day. That’s why I’m in this fight.”

The government mediator has until September 15 to make his recommendations. In the meantime, UFCW officials are preparing to put the union’s case before the board.

“If there is no fair contract,” a Local 401 leaflet announcing the government order stated, “there will be a strike as soon as possible.”

“All we can do is keep fighting until we win,” said a recently hired processing worker.

John Steele is a member of UFCW Local 175 in Toronto. David Rosenfeld is a meat packer in Seattle.  
 
 
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