Her campaign platform—including support for workers’ struggles to organize unions and to use those they have to resist employers’ attacks on wages and job conditions—had gotten coverage in the local media. On Oct. 20, 2005, a week before the firing, for example, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the daily newspaper in the metropolitan area, had published a related article with a photo of Potash.

The company stated “no misconduct” for her firing but claimed that Potash was still on probation. In fact, Potash had worked two days past her 90-day probation period.

Thirty workers in the plant immediately signed a petition demanding that Potash be reinstated. United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1996, which represents workers at the Hormel plant, took the case to arbitration on the basis that the firing violated the seniority clauses in the union contract. In July, the arbitrator ruled that Potash was to be reinstated with her seniority intact and with back pay for lost wages and benefits.

Workers in the plant were jubilant. A number of them said the news represented a victory for the union. Workers with more than 20 years in the plant said that they had only seen one other worker successfully fight a firing by Hormel.

Announcement of the reinstatement was greeted with applause at the July local union meeting.

Rachele Fruit is a member of UFCW Local 1996 at the Hormel plant in Tucker, Georgia.
 
 
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On the Picket Line  
 
 
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