Picketers Clashing With National Guard, 1986, Star Tribune
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In 1982, Hormel, a meatpacking company based in Austin, Minnesota, introduced new efficiency guidelines that required workers to move at a much faster pace. Injuries skyrocketed, to 200 for 100 employees. Then, in 1984, the company cut wages by almost 25%. The final straw came in 1985, when Hormel reduced health benefits. The P-9 meatpackers union voted to strike. After six months had passed, the national meatpackers union ordered local P-9 to stand down, but they refused. The National Guard was deployed in 1986, the Hormel plant reopened, and the national union put P-9 into receivership. The strike was effectively broken, but its memory, and the hostilities it fostered, continue to divide Austin today.
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