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Lakeside pickets deter reopening of slaughter-prison
Tyson spokesman says union is violating checkpoint rules of Alberta labour board
by KATHERINE HARDING
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20051018/LAKESIDE18/TPNational/Canada
BROOKS, AL
Bundled in a full-length faux-fur coat she bought at a local thrift shop, Nyakim
Bukjok vowed she was ready for anything yesterday.
"I'm not afraid. To me, this is freedom," the 23-year-old immigrant from Sudan said
as the sun began to peek over the bald prairie in southeastern Alberta and hundreds
of fellow strikers started appearing out of the darkness around her. The brisk autumn
air was ripe with the pungent smell of manure.
"It is better out here. That is a prison," the married mother of two said, pointing
at the nearby Lakeside Packers slaughterhouse -- her employer.
But she and the other pickets at the country's largest meat-processing plant, spent
the early-morning hours girding for a violent confrontation that never came. There
were fears that a nasty struggle would erupt when management at the company, which is
owned by Arkansas-based Tyson Foods Inc., attempted to restart full operations. The
plant, which normally runs two shifts a day and processes about one million animals a
year, has been largely shut down since the strike began Wednesday.
By the afternoon, frustrated company officials stopped trying to get yellow school
buses full of workers through the line.
Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union -- about half the company's
2,400 workers belong -- successfully delayed vehicles attempting to get on and off
the company's vast property by surrounding them and taunting the occupants with
shouts of: "Scab! Scab! Scab!"
The company did not get enough people inside the plant to cull a single cow, so the
work was put off until today, according Guy Mickleson, a Tyson spokesman.
Workers who tried to cross onto the company's property in their own vehicles often
waited for hours to gain access. Some ran out of gas. Many grew impatient. "All I
want to do is work!" one woman yelled out the window of her car.
Mr. Mickleson said the union's delaying tactics at the checkpoints violate rules
recently set out by the Alberta labour board that pickets can hold up cars trying to
cross the picket line for only five minutes, and buses for nine minutes.
However, he wouldn't say if the company would push for the rules to be changed or
tightened.
Keeping a watchful eye the entire day were dozens of RCMP officers, including at
least two busloads of police decked out in riot gear. Some were toting cameras.
Ms. Bukjok, who has worked at Lakeside for three months, earning about $12 an hour,
doesn't understand why Premier Ralph Klein's government has not intervened.
"Why can't he stop this?" Ms. Bukjok said.
Nearly 70 per cent of the people on the picket line are visible minorities. This is
the first strike for most of them and the rules of engagement are unclear and
foreign.
"We have strikes in Africa. But when governments come, they solve it," said Monica
Deng, a 36-year-old Sudanese immigrant holding a sign that read: "Government! Stop
Slavery in Canada."
"I didn't come here to be a slave," she added.
The union, which has been fighting for its first contract since the 1980s, is pushing
for higher wages and better benefits. During the strike, union members are receiving
$360 tax-free a week.
Union leaders say that it wants wages and benefits increased and has asked for many
concessions, including a $1.45-$1.75 an hour raise over 3½ years, two 15-minute
coffee breaks during a regular shift and a $100 boot allowance. Lakeside has said the
proposals would put it at an economic disadvantage to one of its main rivals,
Cargill.
Michael Fraser, the union's national director, warned yesterday afternoon that the
strike has the "potential for more violence." He said he has written to Prime
Minister Paul Martin and Mr. Klein, asking them to use their "influence" to persuade
Tyson to return to the bargaining table.
Yesterday Mr. Klein urged workers upset about conditions to file written complaints
to the labour board. "All I need is for a worker to write and lodge a formal
complaint of some kind, relative to not having bathroom breaks, one guy said that he
had to wet his pants. I find that's abhorrent, if it's true," Mr. Klein said.
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I intend to last long enough to put out of business all *****-suckers
and other beneficiaries of the institutionalized slavery and genocide.
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"The army that will defeat terrorism doesn't wear uniforms, or drive
Humvees, or calls in air-strikes. It doesn't have a high command, or
high security, or a high budget. The army that can defeat terrorism
does battle quietly, clearing minefields and vaccinating children. It
undermines military dictatorships and military lobbyists. It subverts
sweatshops and special interests.Where people feel powerless, it
helps them organize for change, and where people are powerful, it
reminds them of their responsibility." ~~~~ Author Unknown ~~~~
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