Echoes of 1984: Histories of Latine Organizing in Austin's Meatpacking Union

Clara Mejía Orta’s paper follows the aftermath of the 1984 UFCW Local P-9 Hormel Strike in Austin, MN. Hormel replaced its striking workforce with mostly Mexican workers. How does the town of Austin look like today? Are current meatpacking workers aware of the strike that occurred almost 50 years ago? To answer these questions Clara is putting in conversation the P-9 archive with a new set of oral histories from UFCW organizers, UFCW 663 leadership and current UFCW meatpacking members to argue that the aftermath of the strike created enough internal pressure for the UFCW International Union to acknowledge the need to develop Latine leadership within the Union for a changing Latine workforce. Clara’s paper emphasizes her use of Public History and Digital Humanities to make her research accessible to Union members and labor organizers who are pivotal to the research she conducts.