Union?!! We don't need no stinking union!

Not good.

Employees of Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. in Joslin have filed a petition to remove their union, just days before their labor agreement expires.

Tyson employee Oscar Hernandez, of Moline, said he filed the petition to decertify the UFCW after quickly collecting 641 signatures out of a possible 1,883 hourly employees. The Tyson employees want to drop UFCW representation because they do not feel that the union has given them adequate representation, he said.

Mr. Hernandez said the Tyson workers do not know how labor negotiations are progressing with the company. He said he and his co-workers do not trust the UFCW to represent their best interests.

"There are more problems now (in the plant) than there were before," Mr. Hernandez said. He last filed a petition for decertification from the UFCW in late 2000-early 2001, prior to a settlement and ratification of the current labor agreement.

Mr. Hernandez said he withdrew his petition in early 2001 after the International UFCW took control of Local 1546, fired its business agent and promised many changes.

"They made promises of change, but the changes never occurred," Mr. Hernandez said. He has promised his co-workers he will not withdraw his petition this time, he said.

Two other labor unions may be interested in representing the Tyson employees, said Ramon Ceja, of Bettendorf, a maintenance worker at Joslin.

He declined to disclose which unions are interested until they have filed their formal intentions. The unions would split the bargaining unit in two, representing their labor specialties and interests, he said, if the workers approved the union in an election. Mr. Ceja is working with the other unions.

According to the NLRB, an election ballot could include both the question of decertifying the present union and the adoption of another bargaining agent.

Another Tyson employee, Roberto Alva, of Rock Island, said he is not worried about being without union representation if Tyson’s workers elect to dump the UFCW and no other union represents them. He said he believes the workers would be better off on their own. He said his brother works at a non-union Tyson plant in Kansas City, at the same job grade as his, and earns a higher hourly wage.