11. A variety of buttons documenting the 1985 strike at Hormel Foods hang on the wall of the Local United Food and Commercial Workers Union, or P-9, members' gathering place in Austin, Minn. June 15, 2010. 1933: Striking workers at the Hormel meatpacking facility warm themselves around a fire in Austin, Minnesota. THE CHAIN OF COMMAND. And a few years later, in 1989, the company leased part of its Austin plant to a newly created company called Quality Pork Processors, or QPP. Hormel Summary. Photo courtesy of Minnesota Historical Society. . All rights reserved. The local union, which has decided to act independently from its parent international union in Washington, hires a free-lance strike consultant named Ray Rogers, who comes in with charts, graphs and promises of national press attention. National Guard soldiers patrolled the streets to keep the peace. “Petey” was a second-generation Hormel worker, employed during the early 1980s in the boning room at the August 9, 2010. After the strike, Hormel hired new workers at lower wages. Hormel Strike United States 1985-1986 Synopsis On 19 August 1985 Local P-9 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) went on strike against Geo. Peter Rachleff, “The Hormel Strike: Turning Point for the Rank-and-File Labor Movement,” Socialist Review, no. The local union, P-9 of the Food and Commercial Workers, overwhelmingly rejects a contract offer with a $2/hour wage cut. Everything you need to understand or teach Hormel. With the strike by 1,500 workers in its 20th week, Hormel reopened the Austin plant. By the mid-1990s, QPP ushered in a new workforce of mostly single Mexican men. It became one of the longest strikes of the 1980s. Chronicles the six-month strike at Hormel in Austin, Minnesota, in 1985-86. Families stopped talking. The Hormel strike that began 25 years ago, devastated Austin and transformed the workforce of the small city. (Image courtesy of the Minnesota Historical Society), Virtual Gig List: Brother Ali; Tycho; Low; Daniel Caesar; and more, Virtual Gig List: Kelsey Waldon; Bad Religion; Low Cut Connie and more, Virtual Gig List: Charlie Parr; Gaelynn Lea; Caitlyn Canty; Grant-Lee Philips; Deep Sea Diver and more, Virtual Gig List: Phantom Planet; Joe Flip; Della Mae and more, Virtual Gig List: #iVoted Festival Georgia; Rhett Miller and more, This Moment In Time: a music event by Sacred Heart Music Center and DanSan Creatives, 08/14/1985 MPR report: Austin, before the strike, 01/20/1986 MPR report: Sending in the National Guard, 06/02/1986 MPR report: Strike ends, with Gary Eichten, Slideshow: Photos from the Hormel strike in Austin, Minnesota Public Radio - 89.3 The Current. On Strike at Hormel: The Struggle for a Democratic Labor Movement IX. Are you looking for never-ending fun in this exciting logic-brain app? The Hormel workers' strike was a significant battle in American labor union history. II. When the union members in Austin refused, local P-9 was placed in receivership and taken over by the national union. Elizabeth Baier 1985-86 Union Meatpackers Strike Hormel Plant BY FRED HALSTEAD On Aug. 17, 1985, the 1,500 union meatpackers at Geo. On 19 August 1985 Local P-9 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) went on strike against Geo. The Hormel strike that began 25 years ago, devastated Austin and transformed the workforce of the small city. — Monsignor Charles Owen Rice 1. 89 (September–October 1986): 77; undated letter entitled “UFCW Region 13 Food Caravan” and signed by Joseph T. Hansen, UFCW Region 13 director, distributed on October 19, 1985. 3. And in this quiet community, red-faced screaming matches happened almost daily on the picket line. A. Hormel Co. in Austin by the United Food and Commercial Workers Local P-9 in 1985-1986. When the company demanded a 23 percent wage cut, about 1,500 workers with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local P-9, in Austin walked off the job in August. The Hormel strike, which she follows as it spans agonizing months and years, weaves a more tangled web. Winkels, who had suffered from diabetes and other illnesses, was 69. A gift of $17 makes a difference. MNHS call number: Videotape 145. Frustrated workers in the hog kill department at the Hormel plant in Austin, Minn., went on strike in 1933. All of the fresh meat from QPP goes on for processing at Hormel. Many smaller companies went under, others instituted wage cuts. The strike attracted widespread support among rank-and-file workers in the U.S. labor movement despite the reluctance of the UFCW to endorse its objectives. Visibility; Reader appearance; Search; User settings Avatar; Options . After 10 days, 75 striking workers returned, and hundreds of replacement workers were hired. The Hormel Study Pack contains: Encyclopedia Articles (1) Hormel Strike 2,013 words, approx. They strike and hire a New York consultant to manage a national media campaign against Hormel. The strike made national headlines and became one of the longest in an industry that was rife with them in the 1980s.