SMITHFIELD WORKERS MLK PROTEST CUT PRODUCTION TWENTY-SEVEN PERCENT
COMPANY AGREES TO NO PUNITIVE MEASURES
Based on information from USDA in-plant numbers, 9,000 fewer hogs were processed at Smithfield Packing in Tar Heel, NC on January 15th, Martin Luther King Day, when hundreds of workers stayed off work to honor Dr. King despite the Company's failure to honor their request for a paid holiday. Managers and supervisors were forced to work until midnight in the livestock department to make up for the absence of workers. Production dropped from 33,000 to 24,000 hogs for the day.
Following the protest the company reversed earlier statements and informed workers that there would be no demerit points and employees would not be fired for participating in the protest. The company also agreed to consider allowing Dr. Martin Luther King Day to be a holiday next year.
Last week, Smithfield Packing Vice President Larry Johnson announced that workers taking off on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's birthday would be penalized with demerit points and possibly fired. Reverend Jesse Jackson and several North Carolina faith leaders called on the company not to impose punitive measures. A group of North Carolina clergy published an open letter in The Fayetteville Observer asking the company to "heal the wounds of injustice against the workers and recognize the holiday."
"This is a victory for the workers," says Justice at Smithfield Campaign director Gene Bruskin,. "They courageously stood up for their rights in the face of threats and loss of livelihood and we will continue to support them as they fight for their right for a holiday to honor Dr. King."
Smithfield Packing officials had refused to accept a petition on January 9th signed by thousands of workers calling for a paid holiday and released a statement that several years ago, it told workers they had a choice between Easter and 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, found that injuries rose 200 percent since 2003. Legal rulings found that the company assaulted, intimidated, threatened with arrest and hurled racial epithets at workers. 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 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.
