Hormel Will Reopen Plant Shut by Strike

Geo. A. Hormel & Co. said Sunday that its Austin meatpacking plant, shut down by a five-month strike by 1,500 union workers, will reopen today despite warnings of violence and the breakdown of negotiations.

“We remain available (for further talks) but the plant will open,” said Chuck Nyberg, senior vice president of Hormel. He said the Austin-based company had “gone the last mile” in trying to resolve the bitter dispute over wages and working conditions.

“We’re going to have a war down here, I’m afraid,” Mayor Tom Kough, himself a striking worker, said last week about the proposed reopening. “The crisis is getting near.”

Workers Stage Protest

Workers, meanwhile, held a protest rally at the plant Sunday. Among those attending was former U.S. District Judge Miles Lord, who is giving legal counsel to Local P-9 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union.

Lord accused Hormel President Richard Knowlton of creating tension, saying: “You have brought upon this town the most abrasive mood I’ve ever seen.”

Gov. Rudy Perpich had asked the company to delay the reopening because of the threat of violence, but Hormel officials refused.

Extra officers will be on duty today in case of violence, said Austin Police Chief Don Hoffman.

Jim Guyette, president of Local P-9, said after talks broke off Saturday night that both sides were “on a collision course.”

No new talks were scheduled.

Pickets were expected at plants in Ottumwa, Iowa, and Fremont, Neb.

Hormel slashed base wages from $10.69 to $8.25 an hour in October, 1984. Base wages were $9.25 an hour when the strike began.