Silvia worked at Swift and
Company for four years. Despite asking for it, she never received
proper training for her job. The line moved so fast and it wasn’t
long before she had two slipped disks in her back. For eight months,
the company nurses gave her ice and ibuprofen and told her that
the pain would eventually go away. By the time the nurses gave
her a doctor referral, her shoulder and hand had also been injured.
Silvia’s story is just one
of many that CCI has heard. Workers at the meatpacking plant estimate
that 75 percent of them suffer a repetitive stress disorder. And
they say that once they are injured, the company often looks for
ways to fire them or pressure them to quit.
CCI continues
to seek ways to improve working conditions at the plant. In January
and March, Latinos en Acción de CCI hosted two “know-your-rights”
trainings attended by more than 140 workers. At the trainings, participants
learned their basic rights as a worker and as a union member from
experts with the United Worker Center in Rhode Island and the National
Training and Information Center in Chicago. The group also strategized
next steps to pressure the union into fighting harder for workers.
In April, more than 20 CCI members
attended a union meeting in Marshalltown where they asked the local
union president and stewards to work with us to recruit more Hispanic
and Spanish-speaking union stewards and to train them well in their
duties. Members also asked the union representatives to fight hard
for the rights and fair treatment of Swift workers.
Later in April, members met with top officials
of the United Food & Commercial Workers international union
in Washington DC during the National People’s Action conference.
CCI members shared their concerns about how Swift operates and reiterated
their desire to work with the union to solve the problems. The representatives
agreed to consider coming to Marshalltown for a joint meeting between
the local union and Latinos en Acción de CCI.
**Workers
in Marshalltown are not alone - a
January 2005 report released by Human Rights Watch declared meatpacking
to be the most dangerous job in America.**
CLICK
HERE TO READ THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH REPORT
Updated 6/13/05
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