For immediate release 1/10/07 Contact: Leila McDowell 202-728-1829
WALK OUT LOOMING AT SMITHFIELD PACKING OVER MARTIN LUTHER KING HOLIDAY
Thousands of workers sign petitions asking for Monday as a holiday to honor Dr. King
Company refuses petition and backs down on promise to meet with workers. Workers say they will walk out.
Thousands of workers signed a petition delivered to Smithfield Packing Vice President Larry Johnson Tuesday at the Tar Heel plant in North Carolina asking for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day as a paid holiday. The holiday is recognized in the state of North Carolina but Smithfield, with possibly the largest single concentration of African American and Latino workers in the state, has never allowed workers to commemorate the holiday.
Ministers and civil rights leaders also called on the company to respect the workers’ wishes, writing in an open letter to Smithfield Vice President Larry Johnson published today in the Fayetteville Observer:
“Martin Luther King, Jr.’s statement that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” is aptly applied to the situation at Smithfield’s Tar Heel plant. We experience the abuses committed against Smithfield workers as if they are committed against us. In honor of Martin Luther King Day, we appeal to Smithfield to begin healing the wounds of over a decade of injustice towards workers and grant them a holiday to commemorate this noble leader and the cherished ideals for which he fought and died.”
Workers are planning to attend an event on Monday to commemorate both Dr. Martin Luther King and Mexican American civil rights leader Cesar Chavez at 10:00am at the First Baptist Church, 302 Moore Street in Fayetteville during which they also plan to express their solidarity with immigrant workers who have been facing termination at the plant.
Black, brown and white, we are in this struggle together,” says Keith Ludlum, a Smithfield worker. Workers have indicated if the company does not grant them the holiday, they will walk out or refuse to come to work.
Smithfield has been found in several NLRB rulings and a US Court of Appeals decision to have intimidated workers through the threats of arrest by immigration authorities, assaults, illegal firings and racial epithets. It has also been condemned in several Human Rights Watch reports for widespread, dangerous working conditions. A recent report on injuries, based on OSHA data, by Research Associates of America found that injuries rose 200 percent since 2003. .
For more information and to speak with Smithfield workers, contact Leila McDowell at 202 728 1829.
The Council of Churches of Greater Washington, a coalition of 75 area churches, passed a resolution condemning Smithfield Foods for creating an environment of intimidation and fear for workers and encourages its congregants to take direct action by not purchasing Smithfield products and contacting the company. Click for a copy of the resolution in html or as a pdf.
DC City Council introduces resolution condemning Smithfield Foods for creating an environment of intimidation and fear for workers and encourages all supermarkets and vendors in DC from stocking Smithfield meat products. Click for a copy of the resolution in html or as a pdf.
The August '08 issue of Business North Carolina features a cover story on the Justice@Smithfield campaign. Read the article in html or as a pdf.
New York Times columnist Adam Liptak discusses the lawsuit against Justice@Smithfield and the First Amendment. Read the column.
Fayetteville Observer: "Ruling forbids Smithfield Packing using threats"
The March '08 cover story in Labor Notes asks, "Is Fighting for Justice at Smithfield Racketeering?"
Smithifield's Tar Heel workers win a paid Martin Luther King Holiday. Read the press release.
Avram Lyon says when he sees Paula Deen on TV, "all I can think of are the people working under horrible conditions at Smithfield." Read his article in the Forward.
Breast Cancer foundation sues Smithfield Foods for trademark violation.
Read Justice@Smithifield's statement on the U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit court ruling on Smithfield.
The final quarter of Paula Deen's hour-long appearence on NPR's Diane Rehm Show Nov. 28 was dominated by questions over her association with Smithfield Foods. Listen to the show using Windows Media Viewer or Real Player.
On Thursday, November 8, 2007, activists with the Western Massachusetts Jobs With Justice organized a protest outside a brand new Big Y supermarket in Northampton. Read More.
On September 12, the Bergen County (NJ) Central Trades and Labor Council passed a resolution calling on Smithfield to "[o]bey the law, by providing a safe workplace, giving Smithfield workers the right to chose a union...free from interferene of any kind."
On August 6, Smithfield Tar Heel plant worker Jose Ozorio Figueroa was terminated. Company representatives claim it was for showing up four minutes late to his shift, but Ozorio believes that he was fired for his union activities. Read his statement.
Presidential Master Chef Talli V. Counsel asks celebrity chef Paula Deen to use her influence to end the “brutal working conditions” at Smithfield’s Tar Heel Plant. Read more.
On August 1, 2007, the City of Boston passed a resolution calling on the city to "review its purchasing of any products from the Smithfield Packing Company in Tar Heel, North Carolina....and suspend these purchases until the company ends all form of abuse, inimidation and violence against its workers..." It also encourages Boston supermarkets "to consider suspending their purchase of any Smithfield products..."
On Saturday, July 14, dozens of Nashville clergy, civil rights leaders and consumers rallied to demand that two area supermarkets to stop stocking Smithfield Foods pork products made at the company’s Tar Heel plant. Read more.
More than 100 supporters rallied in front of a Publix supermarket in Atlanta to demand that the market stop carrying pork products from Smithfield's Tar Heel plant. Read More.
More than 250 family members and supporters of Smithfield Workers delivered a Father’s Day Card to Harris Teeter’s president. Read the news coverage [With Video].
On June 4, the City of Cambridge, MA unanimously passed a resolution in support Smithfield workers in Tar Heel. Read the historic resolution.
Children of Smithfield workers will deliver a Father's Day card to Harris Teeter's PresidentDownload the flyer.
Jim Hightower: Paula Deen "has cooked up a big ol' mess of political controversy for herself." Read the story.
