For immediate release 1/12/07 Contact: Leila McDowell 202 728 1829
SMITHFIELD PACKING WILL PUNISH WORKERS WHO CELEBRATE MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY, COMPANY SAYS
CONFRONTATION BREWING AS WORKERS SAY THEY WILL WALK OUT AND REFUSE TO GO TO WORK MONDAY
King commemoration event for Smithfield workers and the community, Monday, January 15th 10:00am First Baptist Church, 302 Moore Street in Fayetteville, NC
Smithfield Packing Vice President Larry Johnson at the Tar Heel plant in North Carolina announced yesterday that workers could be fired for attending a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. day celebration in Fayetteville on Monday.
The company refused to accept a petition signed by thousands of workers demanding the statewide holiday as a paid holiday and announced that workers would receive demerit points, lose a day’s pay and could be fired for not showing up at the plant. The federal 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, and published an open letter asking the company to “heal the wounds of injustice against the workers and recognize the holiday.”
“Smithfield Packing has abused these workers for years,” says Smithfield Justice Campaign director Gene Bruskin,. “When your child is sick, if you stay home you are punished. When you are injured you are often fired. Legal rulings have affirmed that this company has assaulted workers, hurled racial epithets at them and intimidated them. The fact that the company will now punish workers, who want to commemorate a Dr. King on a day when virtually the entire nation is paying homage to this great American hero shows once again Smithfield’s callous disregard for the dignity of its employees.”
The company stated that several years ago, it told workers they had a choice between Easter or Martin Luther King Day. “You shouldn’t be asked to choose between Jesus and Dr. King, a man who stood for our fight for humane working conditions,” said Keith Ludlum, a hog driver at Smithfield.
Smithfield Packing has been condemned in two 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. Workers, supported by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, have been struggling for 12 years for the protection of a union contract.
For more information and to speak with Smithfield workers, contact Leila McDowell at 202 728 1829.
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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.
