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Omaha Steve

(107,203 posts)
Thu Oct 2, 2025, 04:16 PM 11 hrs ago

How a bitter strike and immigrant labor transformed Hormel's hometown


https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-a-bitter-strike-and-immigrant-labor-transformed-hormels-hometown

Oct 1, 2025 6:35 PM EDT

Amna Nawaz:

Well, no single industry in the American economy relies more on immigrant labor than livestock and meat production.

The shift began a half-century ago as the influence of labor unions and wages declined.

Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on how this change has played out in one Minnesota community that witnessed a landmark strike 40 years ago.

Fred de Sam Lazaro:

Austin, Minnesota, has all the postcard touches of small-town America, ringing church bells, quiet streets and weeknight football practice under the big water tower.

FULL story and video at link above.

The Spam strike happened while I was a paid picket for the Hinky Dinky strike. It was the first work I had in a couple of years, after being fired for union organizing. I won my case and 4 years back pay. The company kept the union out.

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How a bitter strike and immigrant labor transformed Hormel's hometown (Original Post) Omaha Steve 11 hrs ago OP
That was really good. 1WorldHope 10 hrs ago #1
We still don't have any Hormel in our house. Forever. chowmama 9 hrs ago #2

1WorldHope

(1,667 posts)
1. That was really good.
Thu Oct 2, 2025, 05:02 PM
10 hrs ago

I guess you wouldn't have to think too hard to guess that is what happened. But that is a very clear and specific example of how we got to where we are. How could you blame the immigrants and not the company. Union busting killed the middle class.

chowmama

(903 posts)
2. We still don't have any Hormel in our house. Forever.
Thu Oct 2, 2025, 05:49 PM
9 hrs ago

And DH quit a courier job when management intimidated labor into voting against staying in the union. He came home and reported what happened and I said right out "So you're quitting". He'd expected some blowback about it, so he was pleasantly surprised. (He shouldn't have been.) He gave his notice next day with my blessing.

When he went in to get his last check, they pretended that it was the first they'd heard about it. Then they asked him what they could offer to get him to stay on. He said, "A union."

The new contract created a shell company between the actual owners and the drivers to shield them from the legal consequences of any of their decisions and had the nerve to say they just wanted it as boilerplate; they weren't actually going to do anything. Spoiler alert - they did plenty. Example - workers could be fired at will but had to jump through multiple hoops to quit. The pay rate was impossible to decipher, so nobody knew enough to see if they were being screwed, And so on.

They are now out of business.

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