Si, Se Puede: Organizing Latino Immigrant Workers in South Omaha’s Meatpacking Industry

Faced with declining union membership and a growing immigrant workforce, the US labor movement has started to realize the importance of organizing immigrant workers. Yet the conventional wisdom among many within the movement is that immigrant workers are “unorganizable.” Based on a case study of a c...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of labor research 2008, Vol.29 (1), p.68-87
Main Author: Gabriel, Jackie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural labor
Case studies
Hispanics
Labor supply
Labour movements
Labour relations
Local communities
Meat industry
Migrant workers
Nebraska
Noncitizens
Omaha, Nebraska
Social Sciences
Trade union membership
Trade unionism
Trade unions
U.S.A
Union membership
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Summary:Faced with declining union membership and a growing immigrant workforce, the US labor movement has started to realize the importance of organizing immigrant workers. Yet the conventional wisdom among many within the movement is that immigrant workers are “unorganizable.” Based on a case study of a collaborative effort between the United Food and Commercial Workers Union and Omaha Together, One Community to organize an estimated 4,000 Latino immigrant meatpacking workers, I demonstrate not only the “organizability” of immigrant workers, but also the fact that they have been organizing themselves, with the help of a community-based organization, in the absence of union efforts. This case study suggests that in order to facilitate successful organizing campaigns among immigrant workers, unions need to reach out to community-based organizations and institutions that have established relationships with immigrant workers.
ISSN:0195-3613
1936-4768
DOI:10.1007/s12122-007-9025-y