Camilla, Georgia – Eighteen hundred poultry workers at the Equity / Tyson plant in Camilla, Georgia have ratified a new contract. These are members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).
According to the union, the contract was approved by 97 percent of the members at the plant and set a new standard for poultry workers in the South. Its provisions include a large reduction in health care costs to members; annual general wage increases over the three-year term of the contract; and overtime for working on personal days. The contract language also addresses seniority, layoffs and recall.
The RWDSU represents more than 10,000 poultry workers across the southern United States with more than 3,000 workers in Georgia. The union is one of the few that has been successful organizing workers in right-to-work states.
