An estimated 75 to 100 Occupy Oakland activists joined striking American Licorice Co. workers on the picket line Monday in Union City as the union sat down with management for the first time since the strike began Dec. 5.

Occupy organizer Mike King, 32, of Berkeley, said individual Occupy members and small groups had been walking the picket line outside the plant on Liston Way at Whipple Road in the past couple of weeks.

A larger group joined the striking workers about 4:30 a.m. Monday, before negotiations began at 10 a.m., “to show support, but also to show the employer that the community is behind the members,” King said.

The strikers and Occupy activists tried to prevent vans carrying temporary workers from entering the plant, prompting Union City police to help the company’s private security clear the entrances.

The company’s 178 employees, who work in three shifts, voted to strike as a result of a labor dispute over health care, pensions and wages, union members said.

Company officials have said the final contract proposal was a fair one, and that they are optimistic the dispute will be resolved.

American Licorice, established in Chicago in 1914, began producing candy in Union City in 1970. Its corporate headquarters is in Bend, Ore.

The least senior employee at the plant has worked there for 15 years, and many have been there for decades. As the strike drags on, some said they just want to go back to work.

“We gave this company our all — this is our life,” said Richard Rivera, 55, of Hayward, who has worked at American Licorice for 16 years. “They say they don’t want us in the street picketing — so let us go to work.”

One worker, who didn’t want his name used because he said he fears retaliation from the company, said he had been walking the picket line from 9:30 p.m. Sunday. As of 11 a.m. Monday, he was still there.

“This has been the best day, because we got help from Occupy Oakland,” he said.

“That’s why I’m here, because they got my hopes up. I was planning to leave at 3 in the morning.”

King said Occupy members would meet Thursday to discuss the possibility of further participation in the strike.

Contact Rob Dennis at 510-353-7010.