News and Letters November 1997
Union campaign at American Catfish
By S. Hamer
Itta Bena, Miss.--Since September we have been working on a drive to
unionize the American Catfish plant here. This plant is one of the
last three catfish plants in the Mississippi Delta that is not
unionized. Ten years ago no plants were union, but today there is
only American Catfish, Hartman's and South Fresh still to go.
American Catfish has been very difficult. We've had two elections
there already and lost both of them, but now we are on our way to a
third one.
American Cat is owned by a white farmer who has no respect for the
people he employs. The plant has grown to about 200 workers, nearly
all of them Black, and they are making him rich. It is like the way
Delta Pride Catfish was before we had the union--harassment,
disrespect from supervisors, injuries on the job, preventing workers
from going to the doctor when they get hurt, and firing workers if
they take time off to take children to the doctor.
When we came back to organize again in September, a lot of workers
were glad to see us. The plant is remodeled but there are still a
lot of injuries. The main reason people are signing up in the union
is harassment from supervisors. In one way, it's different from the
old days; now more than half the supervisors are Black. But the
harassment is still there. Another reason people are joining is that
there is no security about anything. The company gives workers an
increase, then takes it back. They give workers incentive pay, then
it's gone.
We've been forever struggling in the South, fighting to gain
recognition in these unorganized plants. But it's very difficult
when people are oppressed for years with the concept that white
people are superior and in order to survive you must do or take
whatever is necessary. I don't know what the outcome of this
election will be. The in-plant workers' committee is getting itself
together, especially on the kill line. But we won't know if the
third election is the one that works until the votes are counted.
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