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Tyson Foods Force Thousands of Workers onto Picket Lines in Alberta, Canada

Posted to the IUF website 17-Oct-2005

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More than 2,300 workers at the Tyson Foods slaughterhouse in Brooks (Alberta) Canada, members of UFCW Local 401, are on strike for a first collective bargaining agreement. Major issues are basic workplace protections like an end to harassment, improved safety training, and better handling of biological hazards. Picket lines went up on October 12, 2005 after Tyson Foods rejected a proposal by a mediator appointed by the Alberta government to facilitate a first-contract agreement.

The majority of the workers are immigrant workers and refugees from Sudan and Somalia, lured to Alberta with the promise of a good job and a more secure future for their families.

Racist Jeers and Attacks Targeted at Striking Immigrant Workers

Provincial law enforcement officers stood by as replacement workers and management verbally and physically assaulted Sudanese workers with racially-motivated jeers and anti-immigrant insults. Several strikers were reportedly beaten with metal pipes and left injured in a ditch before being transported to the hospital. UFCW Local Union President Doug Halloran was treated at a hospital for injuries sustained when his vehicle was forced from the road by two company vehicles.

UFCW members and Tyson workers in the United States stand firmly in support of our Canadian brothers and sisters as they stand up against Tyson's greed, said Joseph T. Hansen, UFCW International President. We are committing every resource available to support our striking workers in Alberta on the frontlines against Tyson's inexcusable greed.

Tyson recruits workers from all over the world to bring them to work in their North American operations in a race to the bottom. Exploitation of a vulnerable immigrant workforce is part of their business plan. Now, it is particularly galling to see that the Tyson is allowing racially-motivated violence to take place on the picket line.


Tyson's behavior in Alberta follows a pattern it sets in the United States-- doing everything in its power to lower wages, cut benefits and reduce workplace standards for employees, particularly immigrant workers. In 2003, Tyson forced long-time meat processing workers in Jefferson, Wisconsin onto picket lines for nearly one year in order to lower wage and benefit levels for unionized workers in the United States.

Tyson Foods is the Wal-Mart of the meat industry, dominating 27 percent of all beef, pork and chicken sales in the U.S. Tyson has no financial need to demand sub-standard wage and benefit levels for workers in the U.S. or Canada.

The Brooks facility handles 40% of all beef slaughter in Canada. It operates under the name Lakeside Packers. Tyson has owned the plant for ten years.

Click here for a video giving some background on the strike.

Regular updates on the strike can be viewed on the UFCW Local 401 web-site.

A TENTATIVE CONTRACT AGREEMENT WAS REACHED ON 2 NOVEMBER AFTER MORE THAN THREE WEEKS OF STRIKE. A RANK-AND-FILE RATIFICATION VOTE ON 4 NOVEMBER PASSED BY A MARGIN OF 56 TO 44%. WE THEREFORE ASK THAT YOU SUSPEND PROTEST ACTIVITIES.

We thank you for your solidarity and support. Thousands of protest messages were sent to Tyson.