(FORTUNE Magazine) – Hundreds of workers crossed picket lines at the Geo. A. Hormel & Co. plant in Austin, Minnesota, but a bitter six-month-old dispute still smoldered between Hormel and Local P-9 of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). The meatpackers have been on strike since last August 17, when they walked out to press demands for a rollback of previous wage concessions. The strike turned nasty in January, when Hormel needed National Guard help to break a union blockade so it could reopen the plant. The UFCW International has condemned P-9's strategy as ''suicidal.'' Industrywide overcapacity and competition from non-union plants have forced a number of unionized meatpackers to seek wage concessions in recent years. Unions cooperated for a time, but the rank and file responded by electing militant new leaders determined to rescind the cuts. Oscar Mayer, Morrell, and Swift have all been hit by strikes comparable with Hormel's. The ensuing settlements pushed wages up from a low of about $8.50 an hour to around $10, not far below their preconcession highs. Security analysts predict a painful shakeout in the industry.