Working Life's ongoing special section devoted to holding the Cafta Fifteen accountable.
Buy the Wal-Mart documentary for $12.95
« White House Caves on Davis Bacon | Main | Tip of the Iceberg »
October 27, 2005
Ugly Tyson Foods
Tyson Foods has a pretty ugly reputation as a hard-nosed, nasty employer. There is a very ugly strike underway at the the company's Lakeside Packers plant in Brooks, Alberta. As the UFCW reports, "Approximately 2,300 workers were forced on strike by Tyson Foods at the company’s Lakeside Packers plant in Brooks, Alberta, on Wednesday, October 12.
"These workers, many of them refugees from Sudan and
Somalia and immigrants from Nigeria, have been attacked on the picket
line and subjected to racist jeers. Three were sent to the hospital
after being beaten and left writhing in a ditch beside the road. Tyson
officials have been charged for reckless endangerment after running the
UFCW Local 401 president’s car off the road."
I don't normally report on every strike here but the words "Tyson Foods" reminded me of an interesting political connection. One of the forgotten roles Tyson Foods played is as a patron to the Clintons: It was James Blair, the chief outside counsel for Tyson Foods, who oversaw the commodities trades for Hillary Clinton when she invested about $1,000 and in just 10 months cleared an astonishing $100,000. Not bad. And Tyson Foods' head honcho, Don Tyson, raised several hundred thousand dollars for Bill Clinton's political races.
Here are some other relevant points:
- Black workers make up approximately 70 percent of the workforce. A quarter of the entire workforce is refugees from Sudan; other workers come from Somalia and Nigeria.
- Workers are seeking basic protection such as an end to harassment, improved safety training, and better handling of biological hazards “I begged to use the washroom and my boss said “No”, so I ended up wetting myself and standing in my own urine for the rest of the work shift. Later I was disciplined for filing a complaint about what happened.” - Godwin Iwanegba, Lakeside Packers employee
- Tyson’s brutal attacks on the picket lines fuel solidarity across the continent. Members of UFCW local unions across the continent are rallying to support their striking brothers and sisters in Alberta, Canada. As a first step, the local unions plan to raise money and to sponsor striking families.
There's a lot more. Check out the story and the strike progress here.
October 27, 2005 in Labor | Permalink
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451b76269e200d83492fa0a69e2
Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Ugly Tyson Foods:
Comments
FYI: You can send a message to Tyson Foods urging them to bargain in good faith at the link below.
http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=137
Didn't know about the Tyson/Clinton connection. I guess we shouldn't be suprised given that she was also on Wal-Mart's board of directors once.
Just another reason we don't need another Clinton in the White House. Edwards 08' baby!
Posted by: Jambon | Oct 27, 2005 3:21:13 AM
Ask the good folks about Tyson Foods in Jefferson WI; you'll find hatred that runs deep. The local union president died of a heart attack while trying for 8 months to negotiate a fair settlement. The workers went on strike for a year and the town gave them unending support. Tyson could have cared less, as profits meant far more than people. Ultimately, workers went back to the same crappy settlement offered in the beginning.
Recently there was a decert at a Tyson plant in Washington State. The reform local 556 lost a decertification election and there are ugly assertions about Hoffa helping Tyson make it happen in this Labor Notes article: http://www.labornotes.org/archives/2005/03/articles/a.html
Best of all, take a look at who their Vice President of human resources is: A former UFCW local union president who sold himself out for a few pieces of silver...BASTARD. What could be more appropriate than a Judas working for one of the worst all time companies on the face of this earth. Someday Kenny and the Tyson family and those of your ilk will reap what you have sown. Burning in hell will be too good for you.
Posted by: Bill Pearson | Oct 27, 2005 9:26:59 AM
Thanks for highlighting Tyson's ugly greed on your blog. This company is disgusting. Their stock price is up, sales are up - there is absolutely no financial reason to demand cuts for any of their workers and no excuse to deny the Brooks workers a first contract.
Keep up to date with the strike and take action at: www.ufcw.org/tyson
Thanks,
Posted by: Jill | Oct 27, 2005 3:53:13 PM
Isn't it enough that the Sudanese have been through hell in Africa, only to come to North America and be abused again? Check out the saga of the "Walking Boys of Sudan", who endured the slaughter of their families and traveled hundreds of miles across the desert to spend years in refugee camps before they were allowed to come here. My church sponsored four of these amazing young men. It breaks my heart to think that their brothers are being beaten again in Alberta, after all they've been through.
Posted by: Chris Sanders | Oct 28, 2005 8:58:03 AM
Is UFCW pursuing Tyson all over the place? It would seem like a prime target for going after all over the US and Canada, so that they could exert pressure on the company as a whole.
I'm hearing about a lot of these cross border efforts, and it seems like a very smart strategy.
Posted by: Brennan | Oct 28, 2005 2:28:10 PM
Former loyal employees might be surprised to learn what happens if they leave Tyson Foods, Inc. I worked for Tyson Foods for many years. I had to leave for family reasons and parted I thought on good terms. I had tripled productivity of the section I ran and cut labor expenses.
I was much surprised when the only information released by the company was dates of employment and the division for which I worked. No reference positive or negative for years of competent service. I was fortunate to find an employer who would hire me as the employer had other sources for determining my reliability and competence. I feel this a slap at loyal employees. The impression given is that one was terminated and a lawsuit might be pending. No employee evidently is immune from this.
I would caution employees who consider making a career with this company that after thirty years of service, all that will be reported to a propsective employer for part time employment during retirement will be dates of employment and the division for which the person worked. There will be no confirmation of responsibilities, salaries received, starting and final salaries or anything that is useful in a career. If you work for Tyson, be careful and make contact outside the company who can vouch for you as the company certainly will not give even a positive reference.
Posted by: Henry Carlisle | Mar 4, 2006 6:46:05 PM
Oh, I noticed a posting indicating that the stock price for Tyson Foods had increased. I confess surprise at this. I bought Tyson stock for years and sold out in 1998 at $24.75 a share. To my knowledge, there have been no splits sice then and the stock as of 3/4/2006 is trading under $14 a share. That does not sound like the stock is making progress. Of course if there has been a split since 1999, I am mistaken and please correct me.
If I am correct, I got out at the best possible time. I bought some shares at less than $10 a share and sold high. It was at that time in view of what I considered errors in the acquisition of the Hudson Foods company and many of the people who were kept on at Tyson who had been part of the fiasco that led to the sale of Hudson Foods, Inc. to Tyson. Many of the same people who were instrumental in the meltdown of Hudson are still at Tyson to the best of my knowledge. This does not inspire confidence as I was close to the deal.
The question is: Is Tyson stock doing well if there was not a split or major dividend declaration when the price dropped from $24.75 to less than $14? If there has been no split, then Tyson is performing terribly poorly. Check the P/E ratio.
Having seen up close and personal how the business is operated, I suspect that abuse of employees and an extremely high turnover not only among unskilled workers but among technical staff has contributed to this situation. That is just my opinion. The stock prices are a matter of record.
Posted by: Henry Carlisle | Mar 4, 2006 6:56:02 PM
"I was much surprised when the only information released by the company was dates of employment and the division for which I worked"
Sad to say but this is standard procedure these days. Not because companies don't care about loyal employees - although I'm sure that Tyson Food may well have that attitude - but because an honest reference that may be less than favorable can get a company sued. I would be surprised if many companies give out more information than dates of employment, titles or departments, and possibly starting and ending salary. This is too bad because, as usual, the good employees are hurt and the bad ones protected.
Posted by: D Flinchum | Mar 5, 2006 8:46:49 AM
Hi, I have never heard of a lwsuit resulting from positive comments about an employee's performance. I do have a letter of recommendation from my former supervisor's boss who was one of the corporate VPs. The letter speaks of my performance in terms that are almost embarrassing glowing and gives numerous examples of my achievements, some of which I had forgotten. The letter was useful to me but unfortunately, this person is since then deceased.
I am extremely fortunate that subsequent employers have had no problem offering me similarly favorable references. I caution those who seek to make a career at Tyson that no matter what level one achieves or how well one is thought of when one begins work and leaves work with this company, it is all for nothing and will add nothing to one's resume.
This is no longer very important for me as I have a reputation within the industry and professional organizations. For young people who work for Tyson for thirty years and seek employment, Tyson's policy will constitute almost the same thing as a gap in employment.
The up side to this is that very few people either in senior level management or technical positions stay long enough to make a career with Tyson Foods. Tyson Foods complains of a lack of employee loyalty. The military taught me that loyalty works in both directions. One can't expect loyalty from people one has abused.
I recall all too well the plant supervisors who forbade pregnant female employees from taking bathroom breaks. Any unauthorized break was an "occurrence." Three "occurences" resulted in dismissal. The supervisor bragged about how much he had saved Tyson insurance by discharging the pregnant woman before the company had to pay for the delivery of the baby. He actually was applauded. Meetings and speeches such as that disgusted me. It was not so disgusting that a line manager would do such a thing. My disgust came from the fact that such inhumane behavior was geeted with approval. Actions such as this have long term results.
Posted by: Henry Carlisle | Mar 9, 2006 11:34:10 AM
Thank you for letting the public know about the strike. I am a member of UFCW and I was working on the Lakeside Packers strike as the last 2 weeks of my youth internship. Many of us couldn't believe how bad it was until we actually got to go and talk with the workers. We were told not to show any emotion, but it was so hard not to.
Posted by: Jackie Bryan | Jun 5, 2006 6:32:19 PM
I can't believe you worked 30 years for Tyson, and are so bidder about it; where you affected by the cost savings measures and lose your job? was your position eliminated? If so, I can understand how you feel. I hope you can get over it, and close the "bad" chapter of your life.
Posted by: Ya Died | Jun 15, 2007 12:25:24 AM
It is no wonder that tyson has such a nasty reputation. i work at the dardanelle, ar. plant, on monday night we got snow over a foot. people were stuck there because we were told if we left we would receive a point for going home. the roads were terrible. What normally takes 15 or 20 minutes to get home took me an hour and a half. does tyson really care so little for its employees that they are willing to risk thier health and safety? what was worse is
they made the front of our line work an hour over. They said
you can't get out anyway so you might as well stay and cut parts. I feel that all Tyson is worried about is thier product and forget the employees!!!
Posted by: mary | Mar 5, 2008 9:52:46 AM
I think I read that Hillary Clinton was once a lawyer for Tyson Foods. Do you know what she did for them? If she had anything to do with labor relations I find ironic since many labor unions have endorsed her. If she worked for them at any time they were on the AFL-CIO Do not buy list it is particularly bad.
Posted by: Bill Ratajczak | Mar 5, 2008 10:23:44 PM
Who is current VP of HR for Tyson?
Posted by: Al | Jun 6, 2008 9:57:33 AM
<a href=http://beff5a409891f9bf1bfa1e555fe213e2.negoro.gedostok.augustow.pl/> bling dog charms</a> bling dog charms
Posted by: MadDogAero | May 29, 2009 1:27:28 PM
