ORGANIZING The Jungle: INDUSTRIAL RESTRUCTURING AND IMMIGRANT UNIONIZATION IN THE AMERICAN MEATPACKING INDUSTRY1

Abstract

The American meatpacking industry has undergone substantial restructuring over the last few decades, resulting in a significant decline in unionization and a change in workforce composition. Based on a case study of an organizing campaign among Latino immigrant meatpacking workers in South Omaha, this article explores how industrial restructuring has affected workers' bargaining power. Specifically, it examines the dynamics of Latino immigrant unionization by (1) pointing out that workers' bargaining power, as well as wages and working conditions, in meatpacking declined prior to the rapid incorporation of Latino immigrants into the industry; (2) highlighting undocumented workers' rights and protections under U.S. labor legislation in light of recent court decisions that give precedence to immigration legislation; and (3) demonstrating that the presence of Latino immigrants, including undocumented workers, in the industry does not necessarily undermine workers' bargaining power and unionization. The article suggests that contemporary meatpacking workers are highly receptive to unionization and that the decline in worker bargaining power in meatpacking is the result of industrial restructuring and organized labor's inability to resist or adapt to such restructuring.