Showing posts with label Smithfield. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Smithfield. Show all posts
4/29/2009
12/17/2007
Nominated for Grinch of the Year
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2006/12/smithfield-chairman-nominated-for.asp
9/23/2007
From Justice @ Smithfield
Union Talks With Smithfield Officials
The Justice@Smithfield Campaign in support of the workers at Smithfield Foods' Tar Heel plant has already seen remarkable results. The company's pork products have been pulled from shelves of many supermarkets, presidential candidates have made the workers' plight an issue on the campaign trail, national churches and cities have passed support resolutions, and a major network of faith, civil rights, and labor organizations has been formed to speak out on behalf of justice at Smithfield. Those of you who were able to join us last month at the company's annual shareholders meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia, witnessed the power of this network when it joins with workers from the plant.
The company has taken notice. In the run-up to the shareholders meeting, company and union officials made contact and talks are now underway. While we are still in the early stages of negotiations, we know that we could not have made it this far without your support. The union is calling on the company to remain completely neutral and allow the workers to make their own choice, without any interference, in an independently run, non-NLRB process.
We have entered into these talks in good faith, and will continue to work with Smithfield to reach a fair agreement for the workers, but we also go in with a consciousness of the company's history. In past elections, workers have been threatened, called racial epithets, fired and even assaulted for their support of the union. So while we are hopeful that we can reach an agreement, we are determined that only a clearly defined process that fully protects the workers right to choose a union is acceptable.
Over the next few weeks, we will continue to keep you updated on this process. No matter which direction these negotiations take, your help and support is as crucial now as it has been in the past. We ask you to remain on alert in the event that Smithfield is unwilling to agree to a free and fair process. The campaign will not end until workers in Tar Heel have a union and a union contract. We are proud to stand alongside you in support of Justice at Smithfield, and we look forward to working with you during this new phase of the struggle.
Sincerely,
The Justice@Smithfield Team
The Justice@Smithfield Campaign in support of the workers at Smithfield Foods' Tar Heel plant has already seen remarkable results. The company's pork products have been pulled from shelves of many supermarkets, presidential candidates have made the workers' plight an issue on the campaign trail, national churches and cities have passed support resolutions, and a major network of faith, civil rights, and labor organizations has been formed to speak out on behalf of justice at Smithfield. Those of you who were able to join us last month at the company's annual shareholders meeting in Williamsburg, Virginia, witnessed the power of this network when it joins with workers from the plant.
The company has taken notice. In the run-up to the shareholders meeting, company and union officials made contact and talks are now underway. While we are still in the early stages of negotiations, we know that we could not have made it this far without your support. The union is calling on the company to remain completely neutral and allow the workers to make their own choice, without any interference, in an independently run, non-NLRB process.
We have entered into these talks in good faith, and will continue to work with Smithfield to reach a fair agreement for the workers, but we also go in with a consciousness of the company's history. In past elections, workers have been threatened, called racial epithets, fired and even assaulted for their support of the union. So while we are hopeful that we can reach an agreement, we are determined that only a clearly defined process that fully protects the workers right to choose a union is acceptable.
Over the next few weeks, we will continue to keep you updated on this process. No matter which direction these negotiations take, your help and support is as crucial now as it has been in the past. We ask you to remain on alert in the event that Smithfield is unwilling to agree to a free and fair process. The campaign will not end until workers in Tar Heel have a union and a union contract. We are proud to stand alongside you in support of Justice at Smithfield, and we look forward to working with you during this new phase of the struggle.
Sincerely,
The Justice@Smithfield Team
8/07/2007
Smithfield Walk-Out, Sit-In over Water
For immediate release Contact: Leila McDowell 202 306 7947
Tuesday, August 7
Smithfield workers walk out and hold sit-in over lack of drinking water today
Smithfield livestock workers at Tar Heel, the world's largest pork processing plant, say it took over three hours to get clean drinking water yesterday despite the heat advisory. This morning, after requesting a meeting with plant management, who refused, forty percent of the livestock workers walked out and are now holding a sit in the grassy area in front of Livestock. Production at the plant has been dramatically reduced. Livestock workers move 32,000 pigs a day from the trucks to the plant for processing.
Workers have been trying for 5 months to get regular access to clean drinking water, have signed petitions and tried unsuccessfully several times to meet with management over the issue which they say is dangerous to their health. An OSHA complaint filed by the workers several months ago over water and other safety issues resulted in an inspector accepting the company's contention that the problems have been corrected. The workers appealed that decision with state and federal OSHA.
Libby Manly
Community Organizer
Smithfield Campaign
United Food and Commercial Workers
1408 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC 27605
Cell: 919-491-2262
Fax: 919-828-2102
www.smithfieldjustice.org
Tuesday, August 7
Smithfield workers walk out and hold sit-in over lack of drinking water today
Smithfield livestock workers at Tar Heel, the world's largest pork processing plant, say it took over three hours to get clean drinking water yesterday despite the heat advisory. This morning, after requesting a meeting with plant management, who refused, forty percent of the livestock workers walked out and are now holding a sit in the grassy area in front of Livestock. Production at the plant has been dramatically reduced. Livestock workers move 32,000 pigs a day from the trucks to the plant for processing.
Workers have been trying for 5 months to get regular access to clean drinking water, have signed petitions and tried unsuccessfully several times to meet with management over the issue which they say is dangerous to their health. An OSHA complaint filed by the workers several months ago over water and other safety issues resulted in an inspector accepting the company's contention that the problems have been corrected. The workers appealed that decision with state and federal OSHA.
Libby Manly
Community Organizer
Smithfield Campaign
United Food and Commercial Workers
1408 Hillsborough Street
Raleigh, NC 27605
Cell: 919-491-2262
Fax: 919-828-2102
www.smithfieldjustice.org
2/03/2007
Smithfield Press Conference/Boycott
Contact: Libby Manly, 919-491-2262, emanly@ufcw.org
Clergy, Civil Rights and Immigrant Rights Leaders Condemn Arrests and intimidation of workers.
WHAT: Press conference led by North Carolina clergy, civil rights and immigrant rights leaders, in front of Smithfield Packing, world's largest hog processing plant in Tar Heel, NC. Clergy demand moratorium on arrests at Smithfield and an end to the mistreatment of workers at the plant.
WHO: Clergy, immigrant rights advocates, civil rights groups, consumer advocates and workers.
WHEN: Tuesday, February 6th at 2:30 PM.
WHERE: In front of Smithfield Packing, 15855 NC Highway 87 W Tar Heel, NC
BACKGROUND: The approximately 5,500 workers at Smithfield's Tar Heel plant slaughter and process 32,000 hogs per day in a dangerous and brutal environment. Reported injuries have risen by over 200 percent since 2003. Workers face a company engaged in the systematic, sometimes violent, suppression of their democratic rights. The US Court of Appeals even determined that Smithfield used threats, intimidation and violence to punish workers for standing up to improve conditions on the job.
After Smithfield previously violated federal labor law by threatening workers with arrest by federal immigration authorities, Immigration Customs Enforcement agents detained and arrested 21 Smithfield workers on Wednesday, Jan. 24.
This came on the heels of a confrontation with workers over Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Approximately 4,000 workers signed a petition asking the company for an additional paid holiday to honor the slain civil rights leader. The company responded by threatening to punish those who chose to honor the federal holiday by attending local church services and memorials.
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union 1775 K St. N.W. Washington, DC. 20006
Clergy, Civil Rights and Immigrant Rights Leaders Condemn Arrests and intimidation of workers.
WHAT: Press conference led by North Carolina clergy, civil rights and immigrant rights leaders, in front of Smithfield Packing, world's largest hog processing plant in Tar Heel, NC. Clergy demand moratorium on arrests at Smithfield and an end to the mistreatment of workers at the plant.
WHO: Clergy, immigrant rights advocates, civil rights groups, consumer advocates and workers.
WHEN: Tuesday, February 6th at 2:30 PM.
WHERE: In front of Smithfield Packing, 15855 NC Highway 87 W Tar Heel, NC
BACKGROUND: The approximately 5,500 workers at Smithfield's Tar Heel plant slaughter and process 32,000 hogs per day in a dangerous and brutal environment. Reported injuries have risen by over 200 percent since 2003. Workers face a company engaged in the systematic, sometimes violent, suppression of their democratic rights. The US Court of Appeals even determined that Smithfield used threats, intimidation and violence to punish workers for standing up to improve conditions on the job.
After Smithfield previously violated federal labor law by threatening workers with arrest by federal immigration authorities, Immigration Customs Enforcement agents detained and arrested 21 Smithfield workers on Wednesday, Jan. 24.
This came on the heels of a confrontation with workers over Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Approximately 4,000 workers signed a petition asking the company for an additional paid holiday to honor the slain civil rights leader. The company responded by threatening to punish those who chose to honor the federal holiday by attending local church services and memorials.
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union 1775 K St. N.W. Washington, DC. 20006
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