Vol. 71/No. 32      September 3, 2007

BY LORETTA VANPELT  
MINNESOTA, August 11—Young Socialists here are joining in the struggle by workers at Dakota Premium Foods to keep their union.

The more than 200 workers at the slaughterhouse, represented by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789, won the union in 2000 after a seven-hour sit-down strike. Now, right as their first contract expires, bosses at the plant have begun a campaign to decertify the union.

To draw into this struggle those workers who were hired in the past several years and do not know what conditions were like before the union, Local 789 members have participated in various house meetings, discussing out the questions as to why the union is necessary. They are also producing and circulating a pro-union newsletter entitled The Workers’ Voice. Young Socialists have been part of these efforts.

“This fight to maintain the union at Dakota has high stakes for meat packers and for the labor movement in the entire Midwest,” said Julian Santana, a Young Socialist who works at the plant. “If the company breaks the union, other meatpacking companies in the area will be emboldened to do the same.”

In addition, members of the YS along with other young people and members of the Socialist Workers Party have been using the Militant to get the word out in the Twin Cities and in the region. More than 170 copies of the socialist paper have been sold at plant gates, on college campuses, and door to door in neighborhoods where many Dakota workers live.

The response has been positive, with many workers and young people supporting the union fight.

Robert Silver, 21, a carpet cleaning worker, helped distribute more than 25 copies of the Militant this Saturday afternoon. Referring to company efforts to confuse workers into accepting the decertification of the union, he said, “In this fight, you’ve got to support the workers and distrust the bosses.”  
 
 
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