IBP Employees Seek
To Oust Teamsters

AMARILLO — While Gene Leman, chief executive officer of IBP, was meeting with the Texas Cattle Feeders Association here recently, employees at IBP's plant in Amarillo were busy trying to change the facility's labor practices.

Pioneers for Justice, a labor protest group that organized during a 2001 walkout at the plant here, wants to replace Teamsters Union Local 577 as the collective bargaining agent for employees of the meat packer.

Sonia Campos, head of Pioneers for Justice, says they need to collect 1500 signatures from IBP employees to petition the National Labor Relations Board for a decertification election. She says more than half of the needed signatures have already been collected.

Labor problems surfaced Sept. 18, 2001, when employees walked out, complaining about low wages, safety and union representation.

Teamsters’ representatives disavowed the walkout, saying it violated their five-year contract with IBP.

The packer fired more than 500 employees involved in the walkout, though some were eventually hired back.

The Amarillo IBP plant employees 3600 people; the Teamsters represent about 2000 of them. Negotiations are underway between the Teamsters and IBP for a new labor contract. The current contract expires Nov. 10.