SP Members Join Venceremos Strike and March in Springdale, AR
- Socialist Party USA
- 3 days ago
- 1 min read
On March 31, members of the SPUSA, along with a coalition of labor allies and activists marched alongside the grassroots union organization Venceremos (both Northwest Arkansas and Fort Smith chapters) and several striking workers.
The event began with speeches from the workers, followed by a play that the workers created which highlighted the Trump administration's efforts to continually replace the workforce (nearly all of which are immigrants) with H2A and H2B visa laborers, rather than grant streamlined citizenship to the workers who have been and are already here which worked through the deadliest times of the pandemic on the processing lines, often injured.
After the play, the workers lead a procession through Springdale with giant effigies of a poultry processing worker, a cop/ICE pig, and the Mayor, which shut down one lane of traffic. This procession first marched to the office of the Mayor of Springdale. The workers here delivered the first demands of the strike, that the Mayor commit to protecting the citizens who are employed by Tyson, telling Governor Sanders that Springdale would not cooperate with ICE raids or the 287g program. The procession was then led through downtown to the Tyson Headquarters where the procession stopped again for workers to deliver demands to Tyson that it stop threatening workers with deportation if they do not capitulate to every speed increase and safety breach without hesitation. Because this action was blocking both lanes of traffic, police threatened to arrest protestors and even approached the organizers. Organizers directed the marshalls and lead vehicles to direct the procession to a nearby park to avoid further escalation.
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