one
Spacer one
Welcome,
Guest
|
You are not logged in: Login
Find a Church and Register for Updates
one
one Donate
Spacer
Section Navigation
top
bottom
Spacer
Advertising
Spacer
Spacer
Download the UCC Toolbar
 one
one
 
Printer Friendly
 
 
Smithfield New Developments

New Developments in the Campaign for Justice
for Smithfield Packing Company Workers  

 
 

The UCC's General Synod as well as many congregations, pastors, and lay people have been supporting workers at the Smithfield Packing Company in Tar Heel, N. Carolina. Full information is available on JWM's Justice for Smithfield Workers page.

And now there is some good news! 

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union has reached an agreement with Smithfield Foods. During December, 2008, workers at Smithfield’s Tar Heel, NC, plant will have the chance to vote in what the UFCW believes will be a fair election.

In light of this agreement, the UFCW has requested that the workers' allies, like the UCC, suspend our activities on the workers' behalf. We have agree with this request. 

We will keep you informed of new developments.

The official joint statement shown just below was issued in early November, 2008, by the UFCW and Smithfield Foods:


Joint statement of Smithfield and UFCW

The parties have reached a settlement of the lawsuit pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division. The essential elements of the settlement are as follows:

1. Smithfield and the UFCW have agreed on what both parties believe to be a fair election process by which the employees at Smithfield’s Tar Heel plant can choose whether or not to be represented by the UFCW.

2. Smithfield and the UFCW have agreed to establish a Feed the Hungry Program to be jointly funded and administered by the UFCW and Smithfield.

3. The UFCW agrees to end its public campaign against Smithfield.

4. The parties have agreed there shall be no further public statement about this settlement until the election referenced in paragraph one above has been concluded.

 Brief Background on the Struggle

For some years, people in the UCC have been concerned about workers at the Smithfield Packing Company in Tar Heel, North Carolina. This is the world's largest hog processing plant where each day, some 5,500 workers slaughter and cut up over 30,000 hogs. Meatpacking is dirty and dangerous work. But in the Tar Heel plant, Smithfield has made an already difficult work situation much worse. A high risk of injury and mistreatment of injured workers, inflamed racial tensions, and illegal anti-union activities make some workers say: "they're not killing hogs, they're killing people." In 1994 and 1997, workers attempted to vote on whether to form a union in order to address these issues. But both times, the company engaged in widespread and egregious illegal activity to invalidate the vote. The workers need support in their struggle for workplace justice. For additional information about conditions in the plant and the struggle for justice, see "The Pork is Packed with Oppression: Smithfield Packing Company, Tar Heel, NC" [pdf] [html with citations].

 

 

 

one