Tell Pizza Hut: Make Mine Tyson Free!

Workers at a Tyson Foods processing plant in Jefferson, Wisconsin (where they make pepperoni, beef sausage, canadian bacon, and  and other pizza toppings for food giants Pizza Hut and Kraft Foods) were forced out on strike on February 28.  On April 7, Tyson announced that it would permanently replace the 470 workers, members of UFCW Local 538.

Workers have built support by going nationwide in "truth squads", asking pizza parlor owners to support working families by making Tyson-free pizza and reminding them that it is working families who support their businesses with pizza purchases.

Don't let Tyson force poverty-level wages and benefits on workers.  Take action now to tell the pizza makers:  I don’t want scabs with my pizza!

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Make My Pizza Tyson Free

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to express my concern for the workers at Tyson's Jefferson, Wisconsin, plant who produce pizza toppings for Pizza Hut and Kraft Foods.

Tyson Foods is demanding a complete elimination of the pension, cost increases in the health insurance plan that would make it virtually unaffordable and wage cuts combined with a wage freeze.

This is appalling behavior given the fact that Tyson's prepared foods division is the company's most profitable - and growing even more profitable. There is no economic need for the company demands; it is purely corporate greed.

These demands, if forced on the workers, would devastate the living standards of 470 families, as well as the Jefferson County communities where they live.

The Tyson Company motto is: "It's what your family deserves." But the families of workers at the Jefferson plant don't deserve a wage cut. They don't deserve increases in the cost of health insurance that puts their families at risk of losing medical care. They don't deserve to have their pension program slashed and their retirement security jeopardized for being loyal, productive workers.

Until Tyson reconsiders its demands and goes back to the table with the workers I will go Tyson-Free. I won't be purchasing any Tyson products, or any products that contain Tyson products and I will encourage my friends and family to refrain from purchasing them as well.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
May 21, 2003


Background Information

Tyson Company:  The Facts
- Total sales were $23.4 billion in 2002.
- Gross profits jumped from $1.38 billion in 2001 to $2.25 billion in 2002.
- The company's prepared foods division, including the Jefferson plant, is twice as profitable as the company is as a whole. 

Tyson's Proposed Contract:
- Increases workers' cost for health care coverage up to $40/week and increases deductibles and out of pocket expenses making the total cost for basic family coverage $6,200
- Freezes wages for 4 years and cuts pay by $.73/hr on average.
- Establishes a two-tier wage structure relegating new hires to second-class status.
- Freezes current workers' pension benefits and eliminates pensions for new hires.
- Raises the retirement age and eliminates retiree health supplements.
- Cuts workers' vacations by 2 weeks and cuts two holidays for new hires.
- Cuts sick leave in half.
- Eliminates severance pay, allowing Tyson to close the plant with little or no notice to workers.

Tyson Foods spends $100 million to spread its marketing slogan – “Tyson- It’s What Your Family Deserves.”  The company is putting full page ads in local newspapers trying to distort the details of their totally unacceptable contract offer.  AT THE SAME TIME they are putting classified ads in those papers looking for scabs to cross the picket line and break the strike.  No family deserves the Tyson treatment.