Striking Cargill corn mill workers in Iowa demand ‘People over profits’

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa—Nearly 100 corn mill workers here in eastern Iowa are into the second week of a strike against Cargill. They walked off the job on October 1 after their employer’s latest offer failed to meet their demands, which include a fair wage in line with industry standards and respect for the work they do which produces billions in profits for Cargill.

People’s World visited their support rally in Cedar Rapids on Thursday, October 10, to hear from Teamsters leaders, local Hawkeye Labor Council members, and workers themselves who were on the picket line.

One of the workers, Vicky Lee, is known by many as the “picket line mother.” She took to the podium and detailed how Cargill has “done nothing but strip workers’ benefits over the last decade,” including freezing their pensions in 2018. Because of the freeze, Lee said, some of her brothers and sisters had to work 16-hour days just to get caught back up with their retirement savings.

Two years ago, Lee said she and another colleague worked 34 days straight with no days off and got no recognition for their hard work.

She and another speaker discussed Cargill’s practice of giving employees attendance “points” when they miss work. If they hit a certain number of points, workers can be terminated, even when they use sick time that was given to them from their contract. Lee said that when her husband was in the ICU and she missed a day to be with him, Cargill gave her an “attendance point.”

Jesse Case, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 238, made it clear that he wanted “the billionaires in Minneapolis to hear our voices in Cedar Rapids.” He also emphasized many of the demands other speakers brought up, with a top one being respect for the back-breaking work they do and working long hours when they could be spending more time with their families and friends.

Case revealed that on the first day of their strike, the Cargill workers took the initiative themselves to hang a banner at the entrance of the corn mill plant with the words “People Over Profit,” showing how dedicated and energized they are about getting the respect and fair wage they deserve.

Case said the union’s demands are not that far off from the latest offer Cargill put on the table and that workers are willing to get a deal done. But they are also willing to maintain the picket line if necessary.

Case ended his speech with a call to action for the community to keep showing up to support their brothers and sisters because “we are all part of the same class, the working class.” Case said that “the first week of a strike is exciting,” but as time goes on, maintaining a picket line can get more and more lonely.

 

CORRECTION: An editor’s note attached to an earlier version of this article inaccurately reported that the strike had been settled. We apologize for this error.