Teamsters authorize strike at nation’s largest Tyson plant

Demanding higher wages and improved benefits, an overwhelming majority of unionized workers at Tyson Foods of Amarillo, Texas — the largest beef processing plant in the United States — have voted to go on strike. 

Teamsters Local 577 has filed a number of unfair labor practice charges against Tyson, alleging violations of labor law. In the past month alone, the union says management has harassed union stewards, coerced injured employees into dropping claims, illegally interrogated union members, and falsely told workers at the facility that if they engaged in an unfair labor practice strike, they would lose their jobs.

The union represents more than 3,000 workers in slaughtering and processing at the facility. They said that, over the past four years, workers have fallen behind on wages compared with the competition and have not gotten cost-of-living wage increases.

“We are bargaining with one of the most repulsively greedy and amoral corporations in the entire country. Last year, Tyson’s CEO made 525 times that of the median worker,” said Al Brito, president of Local 577. “This facility is essential to the beef supply chain, but if Tyson’s corporate leadership doesn’t start demonstrating some basic humanity, we will be forced to take action.”

Teamsters Local 577 represents workers in a wide variety of industries throughout North Texas. The organization said that the Tyson workers voted by a 98 percent margin to authorize a strike. There was no immediate word on when the strike would officially begin.

The Amarillo facility reportedly processes 88 percent of the meat produced in the state of Texas and about 30 percent of the meat nationally. Tyson has been investing hundreds of millions of dollars into other projects, but the union says that there has not been a similar investment in the employees.

“We’re not just fighting for more money,” said Keisha Carey, a member of the Tyson Teamsters Negotiating Committee. “We’re tired of seeing people suffer. We’re tired of seeing people hurting. We’re tired of seeing the elites who run this company have no compassion for the workers who make them rich. We’re ready to strike this company if they don’t give us the deal we deserve.”

Not public comment was yet available from Tyson Foods.