Original subtitles

(pigs squealing)

Downloaded from YTS.MX

(machinery whirring)

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

(dramatic music)

- [Reporter] As President Regan was preparing to deliver

his weekly radio address from Camp David,

he ad libbed thoughts on the economy

during the microphone check, not intended

to be a part of his speech.

- [Reagan] My fellow Americans, I talked to you

on a number of occasions about the economic problems

and opportunities our nation faces.

And I'm prepared to tell you, it's a hell of a mess.

- The hard line being taken by the Reagan Administration

concerning the air controllers strike--

- The Supreme Court delivered a potentially staggering

setback to labor unions nationwide.

- And it comes at a time when union officials are charging

there is a growing campaign in this country to break unions.

- [Reporter] The operation will be non-union.

Salaries will be cut in half.

- [Reporter] Wilson Foods declared bankruptcy.

With the stroke of a pen, it could stay in business

but void it's labor contract and slash workers' salaries

by 40 to 50%.

- [Reporter] These are hard times

for the meat-packing industry.

- [Reporter] Some union labor has taken

almost 50% wage and benefit cuts

to keep their jobs and their companies afloat.

- [Reporter] Wage and concessions or--

- At least I'm taking some money home, instead of nothing.

- [Reporter] In Waterloo, Iowa, a shutdown.

(multiple voices talking at once)

- [Reporter] Meat packers facing 40% pay cuts

go packing bricks against a truck at a Wilson Foods.

- [Reporter] Picket lines in spite of

a bumper to bumper automobile barricade.

As Hormel's flagship plant opened the second week--

- [Repoerter] Is reached after city officials said

the situation at Hormel is beyond their control.

- This is not Austin anymore, it's Hormel, Minnesota!

(protestors shouting)

(dramatic music)

(crowd applauding)

- Austin, Minnesota.

It's not just about Austin, Minnesota.

(crowd cheering)

Austin is the cavalry for workers in this nation.

Workers somewhere, some time, some place,

must stand up and say "never is a never!"

We want jobs and justice.

(crowd applauding)

Someday.

- Can I give you a pamphlet here?

So you can see what's going on in the Austin plant?

Thank you.

(knocking on door)

Hello.

- Can I give you one of these about the (mumbling) rate

and the plant?

Okay, thank you. - All righty, thank you.

(children chattering) (light music)

- [Woman] Aren't you Mr. Anderson?

Hi!

I don't know if you remember me.

- We had the good year.

- You did, yep.

- I mean that was, I sure hope it gets straightened out.

- I'd like to see something settled.

And I understand your side of it, I really do.

I wouldn't like to take a cut either.

- [Woman] Yeah.

- I wish everybody good luck, and I hope

they don't have trouble with the company.

I'm retired, and I know if I was still working

and I lost my job, it'd be terrible.

- [Man] Could I talk to your husband?

- [Woman] No, but there's something

I would just love to say to you.

Aren't you guys happy working at the Hormel plant?

- Under the current conditions, no.

We were happy making $10.69, and when the Hormel plant

treated us decent. - [Woman] Why do you stay?

Why do you stay at a place you're not happy?

You know, nobody should stay, if they're not happy.

- We don't have all the money in the world,

like the Knowltons do.

- [Woman] Get another job, there are so many people

that would love to have your job,

at $8.75 an hour, and all those nice benefits,

when we were your age, we weren't making even what you are.

- [Man] Then give us a fair shake,

like you got a fair shake.

(door closes)

- Hmm.

(light music)

(people chattering)

- If we got to give up 23% wages and 30% cut in benefits,

when the company's making $30 million,

what are we gonna have to give 'em

when they show a loss for a quarter?

- Two years ago, under the incentive program,

my last incentive check in the hard cut in the new plant,

I grilled $637 for 47 hours of work.

After the incentive program was taken away,

I went down to $409 a week.

Today, I'm making $312, working twice as hard

for the same amount of hours.

It's ridiculous.

(people chattering)

- My father worked for George A. Hormel plant

for many years.

He was also a very proud man, he was a hard worker,

he was proud of his products, he was in the days

of heavy production, he went out on a stretcher

one day from the plant.

My husband now, I'm proud to be a wife of a hog cutter.

I'm proud of the products, but I don't like the way

they're treating my family, or my husband,

or anyone else who's ever worked for that plant.

(crowd applauding)

- It's a real quagmire of a situation,

and people are really getting hurt.

Their pride is hurt because they can't fulfill

the needs of their family, and they've somehow

got on welfare programs, and people are very angry,

hurt, upset, frustrated, and it's difficult

to vent your frustrations in the proper direction.

- The utility workers make more, the meter readers

make more, the garbage collectors make more,

the city workers make more.

- A guy that works with Wes, or did work

with my husband at the plant just quit,

he got hired at the city, he's starting

at 11 something an hour.

- Yep. - He's working for the city.

- Yeah, but I don't begrudge anybody

that's making 30, 40, $50,000.

But let us live in our house.

Let us live in our $32,000 house.

(muffled choir music)

(indistinct singing)

- In Austin, Minnesota, 22,000 people,

we're in a kind of a little world by ourselves down here.

These are the people that we go to church with,

these are the people who we go to grocery stores with,

we meet on the street, we meet in the theater,

we meet in various forms of recreation,

we rub shoulders with them.

Do we care about our employees?

Yes we do.

But in the long term, we don't want to go the way

of many other packers who realized too late

that their costs were out of line,

and then tried to recover, and couldn't.

(light music)

- [Narrator] It's been written that Jay

was a born innovator, and remembered

for his social conscience.

His thoughtful understanding of and concern for

the welfare of the working man was surely

what gave rise to the many benefits

that have been made available to Hormel personnel.

He initiated the first guaranteed annual wage.

There was also a first of its kind sharing profit plan

for the workers, that paid out a share

of the year's profits to each of them.

Perhaps that explains why everyone at Hormel

strives for quality, and efficiency.

- I've worked for Hormel, it'll be 43 years this year,

and if it were necessary, as a survival,

I would be all for it.

We've done it before.

Over the many, many times.

But this, I think, is just the mood of the industry

and they're jumping on the bandwagon

to be one of 'em to say. "we were able to do it too."

Or I think, if they were to have left our wages,

at our present standard, people would have really used them

as a shining example that in hard times,

if you really have good productivity,

good relationships with your employees,

that you're able to hand the bad times.

- I'd hope that they have enough of the vision

that I think I must have for the welfare

of the long term future of the company, you know,

that would say we can do no more.

- If Jay Hormel were here today, if George A. Hormel

were here today, they'd probably be

doing the exact same thing as we are.

- I think unions are getting their teeth kicked in.

I think if you're into a situation

of where you're getting beat up,

you better try something different.

- [Reporter] Corporate Campaigns initiated by Ray Rogers

and other labor strategists.

- [Reporter] Rogers has been used to targeting

on one enemy, the employer.

- [Reporter] Ray Rogers brought his Corporate Campaign

here for an eight week stay.

- [Jim] We were very ineffective

in communicating our message.

- [Reporter] He managed to attract reporters

from the New York Times and Chicago Tribute--

- [Jim] I ran across an article on Ray Rogers

and gave him a call.

He said he needed to do a little research,

because he was a vegetarian and didn't know

anything about meat packing.

Ray came and made a presentation to our membership.

- We will run a multi-million dollar campaign,

even though you don't have millions of dollars.

The greatest resource, the greatest strength you have,

is the people themselves.

And that's why we feel so confident that we can pull off

a major victory, not just a local P-9 in Austin,

but for labor throughout this entire country.

(crowd applauding)

(people laughing and chattering)

- Congratulations, partner. - Yeah.

- The price in poker just went up, at least in this game.

Because that's the way the company views it,

it's a game the way they want to treat people,

hold their whole lives in jeopardy,

and to them it might be a game, and to us it's a war.

- Things can really start moving now.

- Super, this is really nice.

- And we hope that the corporate executives

from Hormel come, we hope the corporate executives

from the bank come, and we want everybody to see

the type of program we plan on running,

and then let them begin to lose the night sleep

like they have caused the people of this community

to lose sleep.

(crowd cheering)

- [Crowd] We're gonna win!

We're gonna win!

We're gonna win!

We're gonna win!

We're gonna win!

We're gonna win!

We're gonna win!

We're gonna win!

We're gonna win!

We're gonna win!

- On our staff, we have experts on all facets

of research and analysis, communications experts,

and people who are experts in all facets

of political and community organization.

Now we looked out there in society and we saw

poor working people getting their daylights

kicked out of them, and we felt that there had to be

a mechanism that they could turn to,

and unions could turn to, and community groups

could turn to, that had a lot of expertise

in how to really challenge powerful adversaries

who were irresponsible in their policies

directed at workers.

So we developed corporate campaign programs,

and our campaign is one of taking the offense,

showing workers to move ahead and fight back,

that they don't have to keep taking one loss after another.

You know what you need to do.

- [Jim] Ray told me, you're never going

to outspend a company, public relations wise.

- My name is Ray Rogers, I'm with Corporate Campaigning.

- [Jim] That what you needed to do was look at

creating a situation that became a newsworthy situation.

- Company spent tens of millions of dollars and many years

build an image and reputation

That's being destroyed overnight--

- [Jim] The strategy was to go after the money

behind the corporation.

- [Ray] We know there's a lot of labor money

in First Bank's system.

- [Reporter] Ray Rogers and his Corporate Campaign

mailed this letter to over 5000 union members in the Midwest

that says in part the First Bank system

is a principle stock holder in the Hormel company,

and thus can influence policy.

- This institution is directly involved

in the policy making process of Hormel.

- [Jim] Ray knows how to put labor's best foot forward

so that John Q. Public would sympathize with our cause.

- There's some guy I'd never seen,

he was dropping to get a car, they started talking to me

about how is that Hormel situation going,

the guy turned around he says,

"Are you the guy that's been brought in?"

And he says, "Man I'm telling ya,

"you can't imagine how many of my friends

"are watching this thing and we're 100% behind you,

"and you're teaching this country something,

"and by God, you gotta win."

I mean this is just what I'm getting, everywhere I travel.

You are a symbol of something that goes far beyond Austin,

and don't you forget it.

(crowd applauding)

- Local P-9 engaged the services of a labor consultant,

from New York City, Mr. Ray Rogers and Corporate Campaign.

And Mr. Rogers has a different philosophy

about how to deal with companies.

Traditional collective bargaining

is not the preferred method that he would use.

His traditional approaches are harassment,

intimidation, and threats, and his rationale

for that mode of approaching an employer

is that if you can embarrass a company hard enough

and long enough, you'll bring that company to it's knees,

and they will agree to the terms and conditions

of his client unions, the ones that he represents.

So he came to us with that approach.

(crowd chanting) (women laughing)

- There are supposed to be some other pigs here today.

(crowd chanting) (women laughing)

- Okay if anybody doesn't have a sign,

just grab a sign here, if you don't have one.

- From day to day, you get to be such on a high like today

with everybody here, but when you go home

and nobody's around you like at home,

you tend to get down, but then you get right back up

when you go back down to the union hall

and start working and helping out,

then you get up again.

- We're on the right side of things.

The issue's are on our side, the people are realizing

we're willing to fight that fight that needs to be fought.

And people, you know, recognize that the labor movement

being a key factor if we're gonna have

any real meaningful social, economic, cut.

(woman laughing)

(solemn music)

- [Barbara] Are you afraid of Corporate Campaign?

- No.

We're not.

As a matter of fact, we--

- [Barbara] What happens if they persist?

- Well, I don't know.

With our position, I don't know what they can do.

I realize that they obviously can say a lot of things,

but they can't do a lot of things,

and I think it's tragic, because the only thing

they can end up doing is destroying their own jobs

and their own company.

- [Man] Thank you all very much, appreciate it.

(machinery rumbling)

- [Barbara] The United Food and Commercial Workers

is the parent union of Austin's local union, P-9.

- The local 9 will suffer as a result of it.

They can't negotiate by themselves.

- [Barbara] Louis Anderson is the director

of the meat packing division.

- And they say this company is a profitable company,

and nothing else in the universe matters,

and we have a right to our $10.69,

we have a right to those benefits,

period, that's what they're thinking.

And to go even beyond that there,

they are convinced by Ray Rogers

that the Corporate Campaign will achieve that goal for them.

He went in and shot 'em a line of shit, is all he did.

Now the plain fact of the matter is there is

no doubt in my mind whatsoever they are not going to win

through the Corporate Campaign, they are not gonna win

if they continue the way they're going,

they're gonna become bigger losers

than what they are right now.

It is going to cost them their jobs,

instead of making $8.25 an hour, $9.25 an hour...

(chattering on radio)

- [Deejay] Brought to you by your friends at (mumbling).

- Used to be, you always had problems.

You always had one or two local unions

that were going through real serious problems,

but you had some time to sit and think about it,

you had some time to get out there and work with them

and stay with them, and help 'em

work through those problems.

But what you've had in the last four or five years

is everybody's had problems, and they've had 'em

all at the same time, and you're just

running all over the country in all different directions,

you know, trying to patch things up

and trying to get things going in the right direction,

and then you don't get to stay there,

you have to go take off and you have to go

deal with another crisis.

The companies in this industry are embarked on a program

to tear the wages up, to tear the fringe benefits up,

to return us to the days of the jungle, 60 years ago.

- Do the unions have any clout?

Does the public care about the unions anymore?

Or does, can the union sell this message?

- [Crowd] Go!

Go!

Go!

Go!

Go!

Go!

Go!

Go!

Go!

Go!

- Local unions like P-9 have complete autonomy

to carry on all union business, as long

as they don't violate their international constitution.

The international union can only give strategic advice.

- What can you do that we can't do?

So far I haven't seen much.

- Oh, really?

Here's your answer.

Here's your answer.

You're reading too many things about what Louis Anderson

and some other people are saying.

All right?

All right.

No, I'm not dodging your question.

- That's a question that I was asking you--

- No I'm not, I'm gonna answer it.

What you do not have, what the international

has not furnished you, what you have not furnished,

is the analysis upon which you build a program

of real, impenetrable economic and political pressure,

harassing a company.

We have developed, I think, some damn good

campaign literature, which I haven't seen

anybody from the international come down here

and give you that kind of direction

or that kind of campaign literature.

- There's one thing I'll credit with ya,

you're a hell of a motivator.

- You have already received millions of dollars' worth

of free and positive publicity for your campaign.

National press coverage.

Yes you have.

(crowd cheering)

Now that's your answer.

(crowd cheering)

Hi.

(elevator bell dings)

- Hi. - Hi, are you with P-9?

- Uh-huh. - Okay.

- Is what local 9, proposing up there

with the Corporate Campaign, the answer to the problems

that we have seen in the meat packing industry

in the past, and the challenges that were faced

in the meat packing industry for the future.

- Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, too.

- Are you saying that regardless of what is decided

by this organization, you're going to go ahead

with that campaign as you've outlined it?

- If the rank and file dictates their gonna resist

these pay cuts, we are gonna resist the pay cuts.

And I guess we would like to see you on our side

in this fight.

- The Austin program, it occurs to us, is symptomatic

of Regan's philosophy.

I'll get mine, and the hell with everybody else.

- Maybe we shouldn't expect every single meat packer

to receive the same wage.

Now wait a minute.

Maybe we need to look at each company and say,

"what is the profitability of the company,"

and then base the wages that we expect

from that company based on its profitability.

- God damn it, the guy working at Armor,

six bucks an hour doing the god damn same work

they're doing up there in Austin, Minnesota

deserves the 10.69 too, as well as every other

packing house worker.

And that is what we stand for,

and that is what we gotta do, Ray.

We cannot have one group hanging way up here,

and everybody else down below.

It's wrong, it's the wrong kind unions, unionism.

- We're just saying, you know, we've got a program,

we're representing a client and a large group of people,

and we're gonna continue to represent them

as long as they want us to.

- [Man] Why won't the International Union

support the Hormel workers?

Is $10.69 an hour too much?

- Look, I worked in those packing houses.

I worked for a very anti-unionism employer,

as a beef skin around the kill force,

I know what that work is, and they deserve

$10.69 plus, believe me.

And I know that one of the things that Local 9 has said

to the packing committee is, "well, if we can get

"$10.69 there, that's the shining star

"and everybody will go to that."

But I gotta tell ya, in some 10 or 15 years

of our experience, that's not the case at all.

Either one of two things happen.

Either those operators who are on the low end of the scale

get bigger, or those on the high end of that wage scale

just simply say, "the hell with it."

And they go out of business, or they go

close this plant down, and, and go down the road

and open up a plant at $5 or $6 an hour.

You know, that would be great if we could do that,

I'd be the first one to say, "hey, let's do it."

But it don't work that way.

- I guess we came in to this thing alone,

and we'll go out alone.

- I wanna tell ya, I am disgusted.

Being associated with this organization.

You've got to be.

(man mumbling) Yeah.

We got a lot of gutless people here.

- [Narrator] We pleaded with the National Union

that if they couldn't support us, just get out of the way.

If you're gonna get in the way and run interference

for the Hormel company, then we're gonna

go right through you if we have to.

(upbeat music)

- So you've got the International Union looking at it,

saying, "if these people are successful,

"they may find out that an international union

"isn't necessary, and all they need

"is a labor consultant from time to time."

- Now we now have a situation where some of the people

from local 9, and Ray Rogers, have a caravan

roaming across the country, spieling out

some of the most anti-union venom.

- [Narrator] Our caravan was designed to try to tell people

what was going on, from workers just like themselves.

We had the facts, we had the information to back it up,

and we were gonna tell it to 'em, give it to 'em,

read it to 'em, sing it to 'em, whatever it took.

- And Louis Anderson was making his $70,000 plus salary,

and his lavish expense acct.

- If you think when the public sees that,

that they understand the complexities

of what's going on in Austin, Minnesota,

all they see is 200 or 300 people

screaming and hollaring how the union is no good.

- We're not just like some other locals around,

our membership told us that they didn't want that agreement

by 76% vote.

- Get the Hormel chain settlement.

- You think the president or vice president

of an international union oughtta come around

and tell ya that you oughtta take a concession?

When they're by far the most profitable company

in the industry?

- Anti-unionism is oozing out of our own ranks.

That'll destroy us quicker than anything will.

(people chattering)

- All I know is this definitely a union-made tent.

- [Narrator] People who believe in what they're doing

are the most dangerous kind of folks in the world.

And there, 52 and Monroe, and--

- We'll go hit the banks, and then we'll go up to Ottumwa.

- I wanna thank all of you guys from P-9,

because you have performed a miracle

for the Hormel employees Ottumwa.

(crowd cheering)

I can look out in this crowd and see

at least 40 guys and girls that down at work,

for the past seven years, have looked like they were dead,

and you have resurrected them to life.

(crowd cheering)

- Well listen, thanks a lot, great talking to you.

- [Narrator] We're creating a situation where

the membership is starting to dictate to the leadership,

support these guys, because we believe

in what they're doing.

If making less money is so good,

but people don't want to do it,

why should they have to do it?

(people chattering) (horn honking)

- Hormel hot dogs.

We don't like Hormel and their hot dogs!

- [Man] P-9 thanks you!

- We'll be back!

(man shouting)

- They have a machine in place to make you look like

you don't know what you're talking about

or carrying the company message.

Rogers and Guyette with their machine that they have,

they have a from grip on that situation.

If you wanna gain your union back,

you're gonna have to recognize,

this is what you're up against.

This meeting is somewhat clandestine in that

if you're going to put together a committee,

then you need to have the time to get it off the ground

without them branding you right at this here

particular moment that the international's behind it.

- It started off with four of us that met two weeks ago

with Lewie, it started off with that group,

we expanded to 16, now we're going to go in a meeting here,

and we're gonna, all of us are gonna

try to sing off the same sheet of music.

Now hopefully, you'll be able to go back to Austin,

and once we get the ball rolling,

we'll all be provided with information.

- So when anybody's attacking what this campaign is doing,

attacking everybody that is working

on this united support group and has done

anything for this campaign, they're attacking

every one of us.

- What are we doing that's so anti-union?

I see more union people and more support than I do anywhere.

That's not anti-union.

That's going forward.

I wanna be a union of the '80s.

(crowd cheering)

- I wanna welcome all of our guests, visitors,

friends, and everyone that is here today.

We have representatives from the Hormel locals in Freemont,

Beloy, Ottumwa.

(upbeat music)

We've got our friends from Farmstead Foods and Albert Lee,

steel workers from the Iron Reign,

representatives from the teamsters--

- Through good organization with good communications,

we are able to wage a campaign that

even the biggest shoes in the country

heretofore have not been able to wage.

Are you willing to stand up and fight?

(crowd cheering)

Let's stand up!

(crowd cheering)

Give me a W!

Give me an I!

- [Crowd] I!

- Give me an N!

- [Crowd] N!

- What do we got?

- Win! - We're gonna win!

We're gonna win!

We're gonna win!

- [Reporter] To some, he is a prophet,

a messiah who has assembled the tools

that can bring corporate giants to their knees.

- This man is an organizational genius.

I mean, there's no getting around that,

he's got all of the bases covered.

- People are down in the basement playing pool.

They're playing cards, they're getting together.

There's a lot of things that are going on in that union hall

that probably should've gone on years ago.

- He's kept the hands and minds busy of the people.

- [Reporter] Lewie Anderson is the Austin Union's

international vice president in Washington.

- Our researchers show that Hormel could probably

do more damage to First Bank by taking their money

out of First Bank than what First Bank

could ever do to Hormel.

- Well, Lewie's lying, okay?

I want to say this very clear, Lewie is lying.

- I believe he looked at Hormel's history,

he talked to some of the people there,

and he thought once he put a public campaign

with the news media con Hormel, they were gonna crumble.

The strategy, or the research, I should say,

had about as much depth as piss on a flat rock.

How much more damage has to be done

before you figure out that that strategy is not working?

- Bull!

- I don't take anything away from the local 9

in terms of rallying their people.

They've done a good job with it.

But it's a doomed strategy, and it was doomed

from the beginning, and we tried to impress that on them.

Being militant, and standing up,

if you're on the wrong strategy, doesn't make it right.

People still end up getting hurt,

rates still continue to tumble,

you don't have the luxury of just saying,

"at least we're fighting."

Because when you fight and it's all over with,

and you've lost everything, then that's

a terrible price to pay just to say that you were tough.

(crowd booing)

- What we're doing makes sense, and we believe in it.

And belief is something that will carry you a long ways.

(crowd cheering)

(solemn music)

- [Barbara] Hormel's proposal keeps a base wage frozen

for three years at $10 per hour,

and any new employees would be paid

$2 less for the same work.

Hormel's final offer is rejected

by both the local union and the international.

- Well certainly, if we're faced with a situation where

there is a withholding of labor on one side,

we could shut the plant down completely,

we could try to run the plant with management employees

on a reduced basis, we could hire temporary replacements

for strikers who would like to stay out,

or we could hire permanent replacements

for strikers who would like to stay out.

Any combination of those things.

- We'll send the letter tonight, then.

Right guys?

When we hand-deliver the letter, it'll mean

that we're gonna be on strike as of midnight on Friday.

You wanna get that set up in the main hall?

- You get your story here, and make sure

everybody hears about it, really.

Just go ahead and.

(people chattering)

- Oh, come on. - Ah, this is your show.

(crowd cheering)

- [Narrator] The Hormel company put us into a corner,

and we were gonna come out after 'em.

Much like a fighter going into a fight,

when you know you've trained about as well as you can,

it's time to get the gloves on or take 'em off

and do what you gotta do, I guess.

- By over a 93% margin, the contract proposal

termed by the company to be their last

and final offer was rejected.

So the executive board has met, and we intend

to give the company a 48-hour working day notice

tonight before midnight.

(crowd cheering)

- [Barbara] For the first time in 52 years,

Hormel's Austin plant was about to be shut down by a strike.

- [Man] You're looking pretty chipper today.

- Hi, Bill. - Hiya, Jim.

- [Jim] Too bad we can't meet under better circumstances.

- You bet.

- I need you to sign, in fact, if you want to sign

a couple of them, you can...

- We got new pencils for everyone, just like the president.

- No we don't, that's mine.

- Okay. - Okay.

- Very good, Jim.

(solemn music)

- What ultimately may result from the Hormel workers'

action is a test of just how much muscle

organized labor can or cannot flex.

Kevin Burger, Channel 5, Eyewitness news, St. Paul.

(horn honking) (siren wailing)

- I think it is tragic.

We were hoping upon hope that some resolve would be reached

and so that this community, and certainly our employees

that work at the plant, wouldn't have to go through

what we are now facing.

We think that we have done everything humanly possible

to bring a resolve to this thing on reasonable terms.

But we aren't going to get a resolve to this dispute

on un-reasonable terms.

- The company's strategy's a clear one.

They want to freeze us out, they want to starve us out.

And I think the motto that we at Local 9 have

is best exemplified in one of Bruce Springsteen's

latest songs.

"We made a promise, we swore, we'd always remember,

"no retreat, and no surrender."

And I think that the fact that these people are here today

helping us so that the company can't starve us out

is certainly a giant push well on the way

to let this company know that we are not about to surrender.

(crowd cheering)

(people chattering)

- What we started is something that's gonna

be more than maybe what we thought.

Seeing people working together, people willing to share,

people borrowing clothes from each other,

I've seen people opening up, I seen people crying,

you know, and it's just something that,

it's a whole new part of people, and I think

we're pulling together, you know, a big family.

- You know, just so it doesn't, you know, takes too long,

people are gonna get short on cash

and then they're gonna feel the squeeze really bad.

- My kid just, what, five weeks ago,

he got his finger in the door, at home, okay,

it was just one of those freak accidents.

Went in and had three stitches put in, 120 bucks.

There went half my paycheck.

- This money is to be used for food

for the people of the Local P-9.

(crowd cheering)

I can't even add.

I can't even add.

1000.

100.

(crowd laughing)

$49!

Over, almost $1050 and they're not done yet.

Take it and run with it. (crowd cheering)

- And I can tell you that this money will be

very much needed by our membership,

and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

(crowd applauding)

(upbeat music)

- Hey, Joe... (mumbling)

- [Narrator] Our Union Hall became a fun place to be at.

There was a lot of things going on.

It became a place where families could come.

We had a lot of folks who liked to work on cars.

Instead of pulling picket duty, they fixed our cars.

We had carpenters who fixed people's homes.

They did what they liked to do, they did their hobbies.

- I asked Guyette, tell me where Corporate Campaign

is today, tell me where it's going week

and the following weeks, and relate that

to how we're getting back in the packing house.

All they did is the same old jibberish,

we got a group going here, we're getting support,

we got money coming in.

They start with this jibberish, and you say,

"now wait a minute, I didn't ask you that."

"Let him speak, let him speak,"

and then Rogers gets into his filibuster.

They roll, and then all of a sudden it's boom!

Next question, what do you got?

I was in Otama last week, and the guy,

they were patting me on the back,

and you know, and this guy gets in,

he talks for 10 or 15 minutes.

- When he gets up to start his filibuster operation,

you gotta have seven, eight, nine, 10 people stand up

and say "look, tell me how you're gonna get the jobs back,

"tell me how you're gonna get a contract."

- Main thing is you gotta keep pounding it in to 'em.

Where are you as far as settling this thing

or trying to settle it?

- I mean, you got some maniacs up there,

in the leadership positions, and a maniac in Rogers,

who has yet to do one positive thing.

- We can't be jacking around here forever.

(man mumbling)

- This is a mess.

- [Man] That's what I'm saying.

- Every employee shall receive his normal 40 hours' pay.

- Vacation pay shall consist of an employee's

normal 40-hour weekly check.

- [Man] Yeah, that's good enough.

- [Narrator] Normally, the national union

managed negotiations.

However, in this particular situation,

our national union was spear-heading a concessionary drive

and we didn't want a concessionary contract.

Therefore, our national union was told, "get out of the way,

"we'll deal with our own negotiations."

- [Man] It don't mean anything.

- When the union made a proposal to us

that we thought was outrageous, what we had to do

is come back with a proposal of our own.

And instead of just basing it blindly on the old contract,

we looked at every provision of that agreement

and said, "well now, what would make sense here?"

- [Woman] Who's gonna pay for that?

- [Man] The company.

- [Man] And what is it?

- [Man] Just management labor--

- Now, any seasoned, experienced negotiator knows

you don't rewrite your whole contract.

You don't throw your whole contract up for grabs.

You don't give the company the opportunity

to dismantle your contract because you rewrote it.

But that's just exactly what the Local P-9 leadership did.

They rewrote a whole contract,

language that has taken 40 years to negotiate.

Language that provides the local union

to have a say in how the goddamn plan is run.

And what management got done with that there contract,

those things didn't exist anymore.

And I'm speaking to 40 years bargaining gone

as a result of these assholes rewriting that whole contract

and submitting it to the company.

(solemn music)

Being a negotiator, requires a lot of different skills,

and especially in an industry that's

in terminal like this one.

Nobody likes to have their wages and benefits rolled back.

And it's unconscionable to put out this kind of proposal

after all of the concessions that these workers have made.

- What's your reaction to that, Ted?

- What's next?

- No further comment on that.

All I can do is take a peak at their god damn vaults

and see if there's any money in there, and if there is,

then we all run in there and we grab as much as we can

and we get the hell out.

(crowd laughing)

- Negotiations have broke off,

and there are no further meetings scheduled.

- That's pure un-adulterated bullshit.

What's holding up a contract settlement

is that these bastards won't give you a decent wage,

that's what's holding up the contract settlement.

Send your bargaining committee to Chicago

with a vote of confidence that supports them

and tells the company to stick their proposal

where the sun don't shine and give us a decent contract.

Thank you very much.

(crowd cheering)

Sometimes you have to fire the people up

to send a very clear message to management

that the workers are really ticked off.

That they not only want what's right,

they want more than what's right.

- You better be prepared to give a lot back from the--

- [Man] Where you from?

- You can start looking for another job

just like what you're thinking--

- You wanna come back to these meetings?

- I worked on that goddamn plant and I busted my ass

for you guys for over 18 years on production.

And all of a sudden you put the goddamn hammer down,

and we go from our $10.69 down to $6.50

to walk back in that plant on a Monday.

What's the production--

- You wanna come back, you keep your mouth shut.

- I took a god damn double-- - Okay?

You don't know what you're talking about.

And I won't take it anymore.

And you want me to walk out, I won't have the courtesy

of letting you ask questions, I'll just walk out

the next time you open your mouth.

- [Anderson] The more that the membership

seems unreasonable, the more that the bargaining committee

seems unreasonable, the tougher they are,

the more the employer has to rely on you, as the negotiator.

Because you're the one, supposedly,

that has to make common sense prevail.

- I'd like to carve out numbers one and two

and continue to talk with you to see

if there's something we can do,

but I sure haven't come up with anything yet.

- You only do that once you have extracted

the maximum from that employer,

and then you let the membership decide.

(crowd booing)

(people chattering)

- [Anderson] That's always a danger, I guess,

when you fire the troops up, is that you get

their expectations so high, and they really believe

that those expectations can be met,

and if you don't meet 'em, they believe

you haven't done your job, and may even believe

that you sold them out.

- We can't afford to go backwards anymore,

we've went back far enough.

We worked too god damn hard down there

to have to go backwards anymore.

I just say fuck 'em, if they want to close it down,

let 'em close it.

We can all find something else.

We're decent human beings and we deserve

every damn thing we get.

- If you take workers who feel that they're,

been mistreated or misused, they want to get at the heart

of the matter, they want to get to that employer.

- And it's their obligation to give it to us,

and if they don't want to give it to us,

then piss on 'em, let 'em go.

(crowd applauding)

- Look, between both of you, you want a strike,

you keep snapping at everything for one.

Now, if you want one--

- [Man] We want some goddamn results, Lewie,

you think it's us?

- Look, look, I can't deliver,

and I don't intend to carry this on.

I can't deliver something that's not there at this time.

I've been banging around--

- [Man] You can make them set their--

- Look, quit looking for somebody to run in here

with a fucking white horse!

You don't even know what negotiation,

you don't even know what negotiations is all about

and you come in here and act like you know

every god damn thing.

- I did not come in here and act like

I know everything, Lewie.

- The hell you never.

- Our members are asking for are some answers, Lewie!

- Well give your members some answers, then!

Don't blame the shit on me.

We're the, you know, the easiest goddamn thing to do

is blame somebody for the god damn problem that you're in.

I can't change the circumstances.

- We didn't blame you for the problem we're in, Lewie,

we're saying--

- The biggest and most powerful threat that you have

is the threat of a strike.

When you actually have to use the strike,

then you're going into an all-out war.

And you have to pick your fights.

You know if I get, if I get a little emotional,

I seem tired about this, you know I just,

this is not jerk-off time, I mean, this is serious business.

You damn well better be able to inflict

some economic damage on that employer.

If you cannot get into his pockets

and take a lot of money out of it,

and make the employer understand that it's better

to settle than it is to continue to fight

or the losses will mount, then the employer will crush you.

(tense music)

- [Barbara] Hormel's production has not been stopped.

The company shifted production to their other plants

that are still in operation.

In the Austin plant, they are using

their own management personnel to turn out

thousands of cans of Spam a day.

- [Man] It's gotta be blatantly obvious to everyone

that this company doesn't want a contract.

- [Man] We're at a crossroads.

- [Jim] I wanna win the thing.

- [Man] Wanna win.

That's no excuse for doing something we shouldn't be doing.

- Well, all I'm saying is, whatever it takes to win,

I wanna do it.

- That potentially is a time bomb that's ticking

that could blow up in all of our faces.

The company is gonna end up forcing a settlement

on those people out there that is gonna be

way under the Hormel chain settlement

and under the Oscar-Meyer settlement,

and here you're gonna have this big company,

very profitable, that has got a sub-standard agreement

that's gonna tear the shit out of our rates in the industry.

I mean, we are gonna negotiate shit

if they get stuck with a bad settlement up there.

- You people are believing that we've got the power

to get them to the table.

It is my assessment that the reason that we have been

unsuccessful, the reason that our strategy hasn't worked,

the reason that we've gone to a four and a half month strike

is simply that very issue.

We don't have the strength to get 'em there.

- The division that some have tried to create here

has been to our downfall, and I just wish

that we could act concerted, instead of going off--

- The fact is, I think we all realize right now,

the company is in a very solid and very legal position

to start that packing-house up without us inside,

if we don't go back to work.

(people chattering)

Now, I think the rank in file here has been misled

in understanding this company's position.

- I think the problem is, Jim,

the company isn't gonna talk to you, period.

I mean, they've got a grudge against you,

and I think you've probably got a grudge against them.

And I don't care if we offer to go back to work

at five bucks an hour, the company

ain't gonna talk to you, or Ray Rogers.

- [Man] Why don't you talk to them?

- Because I'm not part of the negotiating board, that's why.

(people shouting)

- [Man] Sit down and shut up!

- Tell you one thing right now.

(people shouting)

- Security!

Did you call 911?

Get 'em in here.

Get 'em in here.

- Will you guys settle down?

Will you sit down!

What the hell is the matter with you?

(feedback ringing) (people shouting)

If you guys have come to fight and not get any damn answers,

continue, otherwise, sit down.

(banging)

It's a union meeting!

- We have said, until we're blue in the face,

I don't know how we say it again,

that we have gone as far as we're going to go,

that if you want to go into negotiations

then that means you're going to get more and more and more,

no, we're not going to give any more.

- 10 bucks?

- Written in stone, they don't even want

to talk about it anymore?

- No. - Other than asking questions.

- [Man] Yep.

- There's no bargaining whatsoever?

- [Man] No.

- You people think you're winning,

I really don't think you're winning.

The company, I don't think, thinks you're winning either.

You're at war and they're at war, and they're not giving in.

- The contract that you work under is your decision alone.

The executive board has recommended an objection.

I have a family, like you have, and I want to be able

to say to them, as Hubert Humphrey said,

I'd rather like 50 years like a tiger

than a 100 years like a chicken.

(crowd cheering)

- [Nyberg] We've got $100 million plant there

that needs to be run.

We're taking applications tomorrow from people

that want to work in that plant,

and if local P-9 says "we are going to continue

"to withhold our labor," now the process is underway.

The union will have rights to their jobs in the plant

until they've been permanently replaced.

- There's no bills today.

(engine rumbling)

(dog barking)

You know, when you got a place like this,

we got four and three quarters acres, and house,

and lived here seven years, and payments are, you know,

a couple hundred dollars a month.

I gotta wife and three kids, and I love 'em.

They'll understand later, you know,

if it comes down to losing this place,

we'll survive, just like a lot of people.

(dog barking)

- Well, I gotta give RJ credit.

At least he made a stand.

You know, he put himself on one side or the other.

I'm on the side that's kind of referred to as the P-10ers.

That was my choice.

RJ decided he wanted to follow Ray Rogers and Jim Guyette.

- It's a hard decision to make for some people, but,

it wasn't for me when we took that strike vote.

Go out there and do it, and be willing to give up things,

and make things better for us workers

and workers around the whole United States, union people.

- We're tired of going backwards.

But then you have to look at the rest of the economy.

Throughout the whole nation that's what's happening.

I guess maybe you have to swallow hard,

but if you want a job,

you're gonna have to take it I guess a little bit.

- [Barbara] So are you having problems with your brother?

- Oh, I won't have any problems, really,

until he crosses if he crosses that line to scab, then,

there's nothing worse than a scab,

so how could you have anything to do with a scab?

You know, you guys have been giving in

and giving in for 23 years.

And we got unions all over the country watching us,

counting on us, people are counting on us.

- [Ron] The hell with them.

- You know, we got 1400 workers here,

and we got thousands of people counting on us.

And sending in money, you know.

- [Ron] But it's our job, it's not theirs.

- We knew this strike was coming.

- We should have avoided it.

- Well, they didn't want to talk.

- The international said, "it's ill-advised."

You know, "you're on a suicide mission."

They told us that.

(solemn music)

- [Narrator] So far I think I've seen five, let's see,

one, two, three, four, five, six.

I think I've seen seven.

I had to come today.

I had to know what it would be like to see people

coming in to the place that I spent my whole life in,

going in and doing my job.

It's really, really hard to watch this happen.

I'm never gonna let myself get in a position

like this again, where a group, a minority of assholes

dictate how I handle the rest of my life.

- Sometimes ignorance is bliss, I guess.

- I'll tell you, there will be no blocking

of the ingress and egress of that plant.

That plant will operate, people will come in,

the state police will come down on 'em, and just crush 'em.

That's what'll happen.

You can't win that fight there, when I,

and if the state police can't do it,

then they'll bring in to do it, but it will be done.

Now that will demoralize the piss out of them,

cause you know what they'll be doing?

They'll be standing there, three people every 50 feet

with their dick in their hands,

watching people go in and take their jobs.

Now that is very demoralizing.

(crowd laughing)

- All right, hey look, is everybody here,

'cause you gotta do it and be effective.

- I'd like to know how many people here

think that they could get up at 3:30, four,

whenever the traffic comes in and do it.

I'm ready right now.

(people chattering)

- All right, then we'll see ya

at four o'clock in the morning!

(crowd cheering)

(horns honking)

- [Reporter] So we might just mention this,

if you are doing some driving in the area,

you will be diverted away from the plant, westbound.

If you're holding up the east side

of the Hormel Company plant, you will be asked

to turn your car around and go back

in the opposite direction.

- [Reporter] Okay, we just heard from the Austin

law enforcement center that all the roads

surrounding the Hormel Company itself

now have been blocked off.

- [Reporter] We'll get further reports then, Dan, thank you.

(people chattering)

- [Ray] Okay, one thing we should probably tell everybody,

if the police ask whose in charge, nobody's in charge.

Okay, we should-- - Nobody's in charge.

- [Ray] No ones in charge!

Listen!

- [Man] I mean, it's cold outside today, God.

- [Ray] Right.

- [Man] There's gonna be a lot of cars

that's gonna freeze up.

- [Ray] If anybody comes, the police come and ask

who's in charge, there's no one in charge, okay,

there just happens to be a break down in the traffic jam.

So there's nobody in charge here.

- [Man On Megaphone] If there's any interference

with police duties, we do not want to make any arrests.

- I lost eight hours' pay today because of that.

(people groaning)

And while that might not seem like an awful lot

to the P-9 members who have been out on strike

for five months, it wasn't a thing I chose to do without.

And I have every right to go in and do my job,

just as they have every right to go out and picket.

Mr. Mayor, this isn't a hostage situation,

this isn't Tiran, Iran, this is Austin, Minnesota.

They told us that they would not let us in.

That is a lockout.

- Don't be mad at us, go blame it on the people

that is causing the problem in the first place,

and that's across the track.

- It's them that put you in this position,

because they put us in this position.

We don't know whose going in there to do what.

So in order to stop it, we had to stop everybody

that goes in to that plant, we had to close it down.

- I'm not, I don't want to merit right or wrong.

I don't, I'm not gonna pick sides.

But I got a question.

Is what the company's doing, I don't want to discuss

moralities, is what the company's doing legal?

- Everybody out there, they're not out there

'cause they like the hollerin' and they like to fight

and they wanna kill somebody. - Okay, but you--

- They're out there 'cause they want a contract

where they can settle where they can go to work.

We wanna work.

- This is a, excuse me, this is a tragedy for all of us.

I was born and raised here.

You know, members of my family that are buried here.

These people are my friends, on all sides of this issue.

I've graduated from high school with 'em,

I went to college with some of these people.

And this isn't some impersonal thing,

we're personally involved, whether we want to be or not.

And we would do anything in our power

to try to resolve this thing.

It's a difficult situation for both Chief Hoffman

and I to deal with, I can't tell you what it's like.

It's tearing us up.

(tense music)

- [Man] Left, left, left right left.

Left, left, left right left.

- Minnesota governor Rudy Perpich today called out

the National Guard trying to help maintain order

as striking union meat packers and their supporters

blockaded the Hormel plant in Austin, Minnesota.

- [Man] Hey, your guns are cracked!

- [Man] Holy shit!

(people chattering)

- I don't know if you guys know this,

but this is your community, not two or three

of them greedy executives.

What the hell is the matter with you guys?

Shut it down!

- All right, no matter what happens, if anybody gets hit,

if anybody gets hit, you simply try to identify who it is

but get back to that haul.

Now wait a minute, you understand,

you see what they got here?

There ain't no way you got a chance

on dealing with those clubs.

So you better think rationally.

I don't want to see you get in a fight

with the National Guard.

Okay, remember, if anybody moves on ya,

just go back to the office.

(solemn music)

- There are varying opinions from everyone here

as to how many people are gonna cross the line, but

it sounds as though you're gonna have a stampede situation.

If what everybody is reflecting is accurate.

- Let's get our people and tell them the straight shot

like they deserve.

Dang, we know we got lots of folks out there

that are gonna go in there tomorrow,

because the Guard's gonna let everybody in.

So let's all go back tomorrow.

- [Man] I don't think there's gonna be

that many going in tomorrow.

- [Man] Shit, I don't think we shot our last shot.

I'm not ready to give up.

- [Man] Shit, not me.

- I got some real problems, guys,

because I can see tomorrow and you guys can't.

Boy, that's what makes me sick.

- [Man] Go and take a couple aspirin,

get a good night's sleep, you'll probably

feel better in the morning.

- Jesus Christ, I won't feel a bit better.

- [Man] Left, left, left right left.

- [Man] I been outta work for six years, I need a job.

- Six years? - Six years.

- [Barbara] How have you been getting by?

- Just doing odd jobs.

- [Barbara] Must be hard.

You ever worked in a packing house?

- No.

- [Barbara] 'Kay, where you from?

- McIntyre.

- [Barbara] How'd you hear about it?

- On the news.

I got neighbors that worked here.

- [Barbara] Does it feel hard to go across the picket line?

- No.

(people shouting)

When you go across that line, that's your decision,

you just don't let it bother you.

You better be able to stand it

or you should have never went across.

- [Barbara] Why are you doing this?

- Because I need a job.

- [Barbara] When was the last time you worked?

- Oh, last spring.

- [Barbara] Where you from?

- Austin.

- [Barbara] Okay.

- You're crossing a picket line, you're a scab!

(people shouting)

- [Jim] Some people may be looking for excuses to go cross,

but remember that your self respect will be left behind

if anyone decides to cross the picket line.

- You know, my family's starving.

I'm not getting a damn thing from anybody

other than $40 a week, just like everybody else in here.

I want my job.

Just like everybody in here wants their job.

I'm seriously considered crossing.

I'd be a liar if I said I wasn't.

- [Man] Don't do it!

- I didn't say I was. - Let him talk!

- I said I was considering.

What I'm saying is, a lot of you people,

and you'd be liars if you say you didn't,

haven't considered crossing.

Because we all need jobs.

- What plan of action is everybody here looking for?

- Victory.

- I think we're all looking for some plan of action.

- Either we gotta shut down every plant that Hormel owns

Monday morning, or Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday,

we might as well all go back if we don't shut down

their god damn plants and shut 'em down fast,

so I think that if you guys can't keep going and say,

I agree, the company says they're not gonna meet,

they're not gonna give, they company says

they're not gonna give, they're not gonna give Monday,

they're not gonna give Tuesday,

they're not gonna give Wednesday,

and all that time you got some more guys going in,

and so what we're all saying is you gotta either

shut down the other plants, or like you just said,

all go in en masse and just work without a contract,

but its gotta be one or the other,

it can't be going dragged out and wait for the company

to give you something, 'cause they're not gonna anyway,

they told you they ain't gonna give you anything else.

(crowd applauding)

- Now we're lookin' at shutting the other operations down.

Don't you feel that that's a much more

pressurizing strategy on this company at this time?

Especially in light of the fact that those people know

that whatever happens here is gonna happen to them.

And we need to communicate that with them.

Don't you think that that's a better position to be into?

- If ya can't shut 'em down completely,

you've accomplished nothing other than getting

a whole lot of people fired and out of work.

What I'm saying to you is at what cost

are you prepared to take moving pickets to that plant--

- What are you gonna do when the next day,

they come up to you and say, "you screwed you me

"out of a job, now what are you gonna do?"

- No, we know what they, I'll say it,

hell, there's nothing we can do for 'em.

It's a risk we take.

- [Man] Not we take, they take.

- Okay, the risk they take.

- [Jim] We all take.

- Yeah we took it when we went out.

- Yeah, but we took it, we took it willingly,

and we took it to start with.

Now all of a sudden for our fight, we're dragging them in.

- When does the realization come to those folks

that our fight is indeed their fight?

When are we gonna do it if we don't do it now?

- Mr. Nyberg, what will Hormel do if P-9 sets up

picket lines at your other plants?

- Our employees know that it is our position

that they'd be in violation of their contracts

at those plants if they voluntarily stay out

and honor the picket line of Local P-9,

or however many pickets there might be there,

but we know that, if they do stay out,

that they will be subject to replacement,

just as employees in Austin are subject to replacement.

(people chattering)

- [Barbara] The executive board of Local P-9

decided to recommend that the picket line be extended

to all other Hormel plants, in an attempt to shut them down.

With that came the promise that if anyone

at the other plants got fired for honoring

P-9's picket line, no P-9er's would return to their jobs

until the company agreed to re-hire everyone.

- You know, when you talk about being illegal,

at one time, it was illegal to go out on a strike.

One time, it was illegal to join a union.

I guess at one time it was illegal

for America to even exist.

The executive board has passed a motion,

roaming pickets will be sent to other plants.

If this is approved, it'll send a message to the company,

to everyone else, we made a promise

we swore we'd always remember.

No retreat, no surrender.

Speaking on the motion, it's the unanimous

executive board recommendation.

All those in favor of the motion, signify by saying "aye."

- [Crowd] Aye!

- [Jim] Those opposed.

Aye's have her.

(crowd cheering)

- [Man On Megaphone] This is a union picket line.

We ask that you do not cross it.

- [Protester] Take the day off!

One damn day is all we ask!

- All Hormel plants will be shut up tight as a drum

by Friday, there will be none running, to our knowledge.

We appreciate your support.

Go on home and have a cup of coffee, go talk to Mom

and the kids before they go to school.

- There's no way on God's creation that I'm gonna

cross their picket line, and I'm gonna...

(crowd cheering)

When I looked at a guy I worked with for seven years,

I lived in the same time he does, 22 miles up the road,

and I said to him, I said, "How do you feel?"

He said, "My heart's pumpin'."

I looked at another guy I worked with for seven years,

I said, "How do you feel?"

He said, "My hearts pumpin'."

I said, "Guess what?"

I said, "You're union people, we ain't

"crossin' no picket lines!"

We ain't crossin' 'em!

(crowd cheering)

(solemn music)

- What miracle do we expect to happen

in the next three or four days, that's the question?

What miracle and, and how or why?

We have tremendous spirit, we've got a wonderful program,

and we seem to think that if we go one day at a time

like an alcoholic, just one day at a time,

keep the straggle going one more day,

and after today's over, we'll keep going tomorrow,

and then tomorrow.

What do we expect is gonna happen?

I'm mystified.

(people shouting)

- You damn scabs!

- Asshole!

Go to hell, I hope you rot in hell!

(people shouting)

- You're the one that really hurts, Steve!

All these other guys are dicks, but you hurt.

When you went across there, you really hurt.

What the hell's the matter with you?

How can you work with all those scabs?

Don't it bother you to go in there

with a class of guys like that?

It don't, huh?

- [Man] Then you got no class either!

- Well, I don't know you.

I've known that guy since grade school.

- [Man] Smile, you're on TV!

- I know it's killing him inside, he's told me that.

I tried to talk him out of it.

He said no, it's what he had to do.

My wife and children have been my backbone.

They've just, no way, they knew in their minds

that if I did, I couldn't live with myself.

- If things haven't changed substantially

in two or three days, I will base my decision

on the fact that my family is number one in my life,

not my union.

- [Barbara] Are you gonna go cross the picket line?

- So it appears, at this stage of the game.

Well, it would be tough, but, I can't see any alternative.

- And now that we've been working on this

for a year and a half and trying to figure out

the difference between right and wrong,

I believe that I was a doop, I was lied to originally,

and now, he's got control of my whole life.

But on the other hand, it's a question of morality,

because I was brought up that you do not cross

a picket line no matter what.

It's just something that you do not to.

- Because you don't belong to a union all these years

and develop all these principles,

it isn't like a dollar bill that you've had

in your bill fold, you can't just take it out,

throw it on the ground and be rid of it.

- No, no.

As much as I want my job back,

I still been a good union member for many years.

But, I don't know.

My family comes first.

- My daughter goes to work, she's got a part time job.

My boy, he works at McDonald's, part time job.

My wife goes to work, she's got a job.

And what do I do?

I sit home and I play with the cat.

What kind of provider is that?

- It may sound corny, but a person takes a lot of pride

in being a bread winner, and providing for your family.

But when you can't do that, and you say to 'em,

"all I wanna do is go to work."

- It's tough.

But, I spent more than we should've.

But, I wanna go back to work.

And, the hell with P-9.

I'm ready.

- [Barbara] Is that hard for you?

- You bet.

- [Barbara] Why?

- Not being able to, excuse me, provide for my family.

(sobbing)

I just can't talk no more.

(solemn music)

(people shouting)

- [Narrator] You're scared.

You see all them people you've worked with.

All these people are standing there hollering at you,

and yet you know you have to go across.

And there's something in there you think,

I don't care if you ever come back.

But you see all these people you talk to everyday,

and it almost makes you cry.

They were some good friends of mine.

That's the ones you feel like you're betraying.

- Where you guys going? - I'm going to work.

- [Officer] You got a pass for that?

- I just, just that Hormel cards.

You wanna see them?

- Yeah.

You new employees, or are ya--

- No, no, not by any stretch of the imagination.

- [Reporter] To some, staying out no longer makes sense.

There is more here than a town divided,

as brother watches brother cross the line.

In a place not big enough for anyone to hide for very long.

- He won't be my brother if he crosses the line.

- For me, it wasn't tough to get, you know,

get to the point of the gate.

I was ready to go, but the minute we crossed that line,

you know, part of me just stayed back there.

- Well unionism to me is watching out

not only for your own job, but you're an organization

for the welfare and benefit of all the workers.

And now, for this, you know, for this moment, we aren't.

Because we left 'em.

- You know, I wasn't always international president,

you know, I used to work in a grocery store,

as you know, I know what it is to work for peanuts,

and you know, you think that I like the fact that we,

you know, that our people gotta roll our wages

back a little bit, I don't, but I also,

I'll tell you what, I don't take people over a cliff.

There's an old rule in the labor movement.

Anybody can put people on the street.

It takes a man to put 'em back, I'm sorry I said that.

It takes a man or a woman to put 'em back to work.

Now is the time to settle it.

Hopefully we can work it out through the course

of our local union.

If we don't, then in a relatively short period of time,

I'll settle it.

- I have a question. - I'll settle it.

- [Man] How will you settle it?

- I just told you, I'll settle it.

I have a meeting, thank you.

- The United Food and Commercial Workers Union today

ordered 1000 members of its own meat packers local

to end their bitter seven-month strike

against Hormel in Austin, Minnesota.

The international union said it had lifted its sanction

to the walk out, and cut off $40 a week benefits

to strikers, but pickets remained in place through the day.

- [Reporter] It is a strike, those on the line say,

is becoming symbolic of the struggle

to keep trade unions alive.

- If they end up operating that plant, non-union,

and your guys never get back in there,

will you consider that a big god damn defeat for you,

or not?

- Number one, if I say there's no way

I could look at this as a defeat,

then you're gonna jump on and say,

"Hey, wait a minute Ray, how the hell can you say that,"

you know, when are you gonna lose?

All right, and let's talk about what has happened here,

and let's talk about the various types

of victory and defeat you can have.

If all the workers lose their job here, okay,

that's a scenario that we're playing,

yeah, that is certainly a defeat, that way.

But when you consider the kind of fight

that these people have fought--

- You mean, are you saying that 1000 guys lose their jobs,

but because they've got intense national attention

on these very important problems that could confront

labor these days, that could still be a victory?

- No, what I am saying to you,

there have a been a set of dynamics that has occurred,

both with all the people in this area,

within this community, and within the labor movement.

- Right. - Okay?

- [William] Okay.

- That cannot be considered anything but positive.

(solemn music)

- [Jim] I think that we at P-9 started

a small labor dispute.

It quickly escalated into a labor dispute

that represented a lot of things.

Taking on one of the corporate giants in an industry,

taking on one of the largest international unions

in the country.

And really recognizing the forces

that working people have to deal with.

If a small union, in the middle of a cornfield in Minnesota,

can do the kinds of things we do,

we just need to get about the business of doing it.

(indistinct shouting)

- I don't believe the membership elects leaders

to be heroes at their expense,

talks about dignity and everybody going back together,

what the hell dignity is there when you don't have a job?

There's not dignity at all.

- [Barbara] In June of 1986, the international took over

the local union and threw out the elected leadership

of Local P-9.

- The main things that the order covers is,

if anybody physically confronts the UFCW,

if they remove assets, or if they hold themselves

out to be representing Local P-9,

rather than just saying they're a member of P-9.

- Do I have to say I'm suspended?

- [Woman] Yeah, I think the order is pretty clear on that.

- I gotta say I'm suspended?

(people chattering)

- [Barbara] The international union negotiated a settlement

with Hormel, whereby the people who crossed the picket line

would receive the same wages and benefits

as the workers at the other Hormel plants.

$10.25 per hour.

- We didn't stand by the company,

we stood by the international union.

That's where the company-- - Kiss my ass.

Kiss my ass.

- You're full of shit, bullshit.

- You went back there to save your ass, save your job.

By god, we needed our jobs, we took our chances with Hormel

with a hope, for Christ's sakes,

that unionism would somehow still survive.

We left the union and we went back to our jobs.

That's where it was.

(crowd booing)

- Go ahead you can go ahead you can scream and holler,

we'll get that out of your system, then we can proceed.

(crowd jeering)

- I'm wondering, there's one part in the contract here

that I must have missed out on that's the part that says

they have to take me and the rest of all these guys back.

This is the way I feel.

Hormel's will never take me back

unless I put it in the contract

or you people put it in the contract,

and if that's not in the contract,

all this bullshit of the contract don't mean nothing to me,

because how many days vacation or how much of this they get,

that's what they get, I don't get none of it

because I didn't get back in the plant.

- [Barbara] The contract did not contain any provisions

for the people who honored the picket line.

These people were placed on a waiting list.

- I think it's time, and I think you people realize too,

had we pulled together two years ago,

I don't think you or us would be faced with this,

but I think it's the thing that's going on in America,

and I think we as men and women have to realize

we better start pulling together

or by God, they're gonna bury us.

- Part of why it's gonna be so hard to leave

is 'cause I'm gonna have to leave my mom and dad.

And my dad's still out on strike and I feel like

I'm abandoning him, almost.

We feel like we have to get on with our lives for the kids.

And they need a normal type of atmosphere

they can grow up in, and I know my dad

will be okay 'cause he's a survivor.

And he knows that we're still behind him 100%.

We're not abandoning him, we're just,

taking our fight somewhere else.

As far as the strike goes, it's just, it was time.

It was past time.

And Mike took a stand, and he refused

to go past the picket line, and I'm glad he wouldn't,

because I wouldn't have wanted him to.

(solemn music)

- [Anderson] You know, you hear this business of,

well, Jay Hormel, if he was around,

things wouldn't run this way, or we got this new crop

of corporate executives in here, and they've changed

the direction, they're not gonna change nothing.

Hormel changed because it was to their advantage to change.

They realized there was profits and growth

by pursuing this strategy, and they did it.

And all of a sudden they're not so benevolent anymore

and they're not so paternalistic.

They become barracudas just like everybody else.

We just can't look to unions and say,

"Unions, you gotta stop this."

It's gonna take a combination of outrage

from American people about what corporations do,

forget about whether you support a union

or you don't support a union.

Is it right for these companies to do this?

It just can't be dealt with, just on the picket line

and just at the bargaining table.

You're not lookin' at short term fixes here.

♪ When the Union's inspiration ♪

♪ Through the workers' blood shall run ♪

♪ There will be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun ♪

♪ Yet what force on Earth is weaker ♪

♪ Than the feeble strength of one ♪

♪ And the union makes us strong ♪

♪ Solidarity forever ♪

♪ Solidarity forever ♪

♪ Solidarity forever ♪

♪ And the union makes us strong ♪

(woman singing drowned out by crowd clapping)

♪ And the union makes us strong ♪

♪ Solidarity forever ♪

♪ Solidarity forever ♪

♪ Solidarity forever ♪

♪ And the union makes us strong ♪

♪ Solidarity forever ♪

♪ Solidarity forever ♪

♪ Solidarity forever ♪

(wind whistling)

(solemn music)