Today in Labor History August 17, 1985: Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) in Austin, Minnesota, went on strike against Hormel, makers of SPAM, after the company slashed wages by nearly $2.50 per hour. They ignored the advice of their national union and struck anyway. Workers continued to strike even after the company tried to reopen the plant with replacement workers, including some union members who crossed the picket lines, and even after the national union cut dies with them, seized funds, and changed the locks on the local’s office. After ten months the strike ended, with no gains for union members. The strike lasted for 13 months and was one of the longest in Minnesota history.

#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #hormel #spam #minnesota #union #strike #wages

As an #Austinite, I am attuned to another aspect of #FiggyPuddingSpam #Semiotics.

It seems entirely possible that #Austin is to blame for #Hormel's venture into #Spam-related #Weirdness.

Austin persists in hosting #SPAMARAMA -- the on and off festival that began as a parody #Chili #CookOff -- and took on a life of its own.

I just learned that there had, in fact, been a #SPAMARAMA this April of 2022.

Will there be a #ChristmasSpamarama? -- Who can say?

#KeepAustinWeird #FiggyPudding

Still pondering the seasonal #hormel #figgypudding #figgypuddingspam #spam.

This is a product like HEB's Team Weird Flavor items (Vanilla Milkshake potato chips, etc.) -- sort of weird and against the grain, specifically to create #SocialMedia #Discourse. (So should I play along with this? Probably not, but who cares.)

So. I can't imagine this product existing before social media. I'm trying to suspend myself from the business of approving or disapproving, and just try to -- understand.

@patricksudlow @strypey
I agree with Anthony Pahnke's main point: we need to #boycott beef from #walmart, #mcdonalds, #mars, #safeway, #nestle, #hormel, #wendys, #jacklinks, #subway, #burgerKing, #conagraFoods, #kroger, #pizzaHut - which is well supported:

https://desdemonadespair.net/2016/09/cattle-cleared-forests-and-climate.html