It’s being seen as a huge victory for organizing in Alabama. Nearly 1200 workers at a Russellville, Alabama Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant will soon be represented by the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union. 706 of the workers voted in favor of union representation making it the largest union victory in that state in more than a decade. The company has said it will begin recognizing the union as the representative of the workers as soon as the National Labor Relations Board certifies the vote. That could happen by the end of the month. The union said the biggest issue the workers expressed was a need to have a stronger voice in how the company makes decisions that impacts their day-to-day lives.

Twelve hundred hourly workers at Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Russellville will soon have union representation after a vote earlier this month.

Workers voted 706 to 292 in favor of joining Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union. The vote took place June 7 and 8 in a secret ballot election.

Randy Hadley, mid-South council organizer for the union’s region who is based in Athens, said the campaign to bring in the union is one of the most successful organizing campaigns in Alabama in the past 10 years. He said the poultry industry is one of Alabama’s largest.

“I’d been in contact with workers the past two to three years when they would have issues that would flair up,” Hadley said. “I finally got a call from a couple of guys who wanted to meet with me. You could tell things had gotten way out of control.”

Hadley said workers complained of many grievances among them no time to take restroom breaks and not adequately addressing accidents or injuries or having a voice to express their concerns.

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LGBT, Civil Rights and Labor Movement Leaders Speak Up Against “Stop and Frisk”

GLAAD released videos of LGBT leaders, civil rights leaders, and labor leaders discussing the negative impact of the stop and frisk policy in order to mobilize these movements for a Father’s Day march that will advance a shared agenda of equality and justice. Watch all the speakers from the Press Conference, including Rev. Al Sharpton, NAACP President Ben Jealous and Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum.

Read more from GLAAD.

RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. (AP) - A leader of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union says it has succeeded with a large organizing campaign in Alabama.

President Stuart Appelbaum said workers at the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Russellville voted 706 to 292 to join the union. Pilgrim’s Pride is the largest chicken producer in the United States.

Union leaders said the Russellville plant employs about 1,200 people.

RUSSELVILLE, Ala. - In the biggest union election in Alabama in ten years more than 1,200 workers at the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant here voted last week by a better than two-to-one margin to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

Poultry production is one of the state’s largest industries.

“We had no respect from management and absolutely no voice in anything that affected us,” said Cheryl Kowalski, who works in the plant’s sanitation department.

“They told us what to do and when to do it and there were no questions allowed.

“If there were any problems you couldn’t go to management because they did not want to deal with resolving them. The bottom line was that you do what you are told or you don’t have a job. The union for me was about giving me a glimmer of hope.”

As soon as the union organizing drive got underway, Pilgrim’s Pride moved quickly to try and stamp out that “glimmer of hope.”

Workers reported that weeks of captive audience meetings were held at which they were threatened with mass layoffs and told the plant could close if they voted for the union.

Anti-union literature was handed out at the plant gates and placed all over the work sites. Workers were urged to wear “Vote No” T-shirts handed out by management.

Unable to even mention the word “union” at the plant, workers were forced to draw up plans off site and in secret at a local gas station. Company officials, when they found out about the meetings, pressured the gas station managers into barring workers from meeting there.

When workers began renting hotel rooms to hold their meetings the hotels were threatened with boycotts by company managers.

“They tried just about everything they could think of to disrupt the union organizing drive and scare workers into voting ‘no,’ said RWDSU’s Mid-South Organizer, Randy Hardley. “But the workers weren’t fooled. They wanted a change and they weren’t going to let the threats affect them.”

Sharon Hall, a worker in poultry production, said she was feeling positive about the union campaign well before the actual victory in the election.

“Over several weeks, management held many meetings encouraging us not to vote for the union, but a month into the organizing campaign, I knew we were going to win and I could see it in everyone’s eyes.”

For some at the plant winning the vote, it seems, changed more than just their workplace.

“I feel good these days,” said J.R. (Morris) Harris, another worker in the production department. “That day when we won the vote is a day in my life I will never forget.”

In a big step for working families, workers at the Russellville, Alabama Pilgrim’s Pride plant have voted to unionize. The vote, which took place early this month, was 706 in favor and 292 against joining RWDSU. The landslide win says it all- workers need a voice in the workplace.

JBS, which owns Pilgrim’s Pride, is the largest producer of chicken, which is one of the state’s largest industries, in the country. This election marks one of the largest successes for union organizing campaigns in the state, and proves that when workers stick together, they are strong enough to take on even the biggest corporations. In a time when some are saying that the days of unions are numbered, this is uplifting news.

If anything though, this victory should urge workers to continue pushing for what’s right. The Alabama Pilgrim’s Pride workers went up against a great deal of threats from management including massive layoffs, and even plant closure, if they were to vote to unionize. Anti-union literature and “vote-no” t-shirts were handed out at meetings. Even worse however, were the company’s attempts to pressure local businesses to take part in the unfair treatment- like barring union activists from coming inside service stations. They even went as far as booking meeting rooms at local hotels so union staff couldn’t use them prior to the election.

It is saddening how much effort companies like this are willing to put into keeping workers down. With the union on the workers’ side, they are simply protecting the right to stick together. Plant workers deserve to be able to redress grievances at work, and have a chance to give their input about how the place is run. Now, all of that is possible.

We hope this election serves as inspiration to the countless others who are striving to ensure that working families in America are heard.

Barely a month goes by when Stuart Appelbaum isn’t quoted in one of New York’s daily or weekly newspapers. But it’s a small wonder when one considers how many hats the 59-year-old Appelbaum wears.

Known by most as a labor leader, Appelbaum is president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and a vice president of both the New York State AFL-CIO and the New York City Central Labor Council. He’s also a leader in the Jewish community, where he’s president of the Jewish Labor Committee; he’s played a growing role in the gay community ever since he came out publicly as gay three years ago; and he’s active in the Democratic Party, once working as chief house counsel for the Democratic National Committee.

The Jewish Week caught up with Appelbaum Monday for his perspective on last week’s Wisconsin recall election, a contest won by Scott Walker, the incumbent governor, whose decision to cut collective bargaining rights for most public workers triggered the race.

Click here to read the full interview.

In one of the largest union elections in Alabama in the past decade, workers at the Pilgrim’s Pride poultry plant in Russellville voted last week by a better than two-to-one margin to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).

The main reason the 1,200 workers sought a union voice was to be able to exercise more control over their work lives, said workers and union leaders. Cheryl Kowalski, who works in the sanitation department at the plant, said:

We had no respect from management and absolutely no voice in anything that affected us. They told us what to do and when to do it, and there were no questions allowed. And if there were any problems, you couldn’t go to management because they did not want to deal with resolving them and workers here were left bitter and angry. The bottom line was “do what you are told or you don’t have a job.” But the union provided us with a glimmer of hope.

RWDSU Mid-South Council President John Whitaker said workers at Pilgrim’s Pride sought the right to redress grievances at work and the ability to have some input into how the place is run.

Organizer Randy Hadley said the company held weeks of captive audience meetings during which managers threatened massive layoffs and hinted at the possibility of plant closure if the workers voted for the union. The company also produced anti-union literature and “vote no” T-shirts.

They tried just about everything they could think of to disrupt this organizing campaign and scare the workers into voting, “No,” but they weren’t fooled. The workers at Pilgrim’s Pride wanted a change and they weren’t going to let these threats affect them.

RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum said, “Unions may be under attack across the country, but working people still desperately need the security and dignity that comes with a union voice.”

The workers at Pilgrim’s Pride know they deserve better and have proven there is a better way. This resounding vote will be heard by poultry workers throughout the South as a message of hope.