For immediate release 2/27/07
contact: Leila McDowell 202-728-1829, Lmcdowell@ufcw.org
SMITHFIELD PRODUCTS BANNED AT MICHIGAN STORE
North Carolina ministers, students, civil rights and immigrant rights leaders plan March 31 protest actionsagainst Harris Teeter for stocking product that is “packaged with abuse.”
Jefferson Market and Restaurant, a landmark grocery store in Ann Arbor Michigan is the first store to completely ban Smithfield products from Tar Heel presaging a move amongst stores to drop the product in response to nationwide consumer protest. Owner Jean Henry agreed to stop stocking the product once she learned of the abuses taking place at the plant in North Carolina. “The violations of human rights are horrendous. I don’t think people should be abused or have to suffer for us to enjoy bacon,” said Jean Henry owner of the store, “It’s not like there are no other options. Henry said.
The popular store and restaurant, which has been in existence since the 1920’s, plans to use non Smithfield pork products from other companies until the abuse of the workers in Tar Heel, North Carolina ends. The owner said they plan to post a letter from the customer who first asked that Smithfield products be discontinued and inform their clientele about the suffering of workers in Tar Heel.
“The cruel exploitation won’t stop until we as consumers end it. Its up to us,” said Henry.
Workers, supported by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, have been struggling for 12 years for the protection of a union contract.
A national coalition of student, faith, civil rights and immigrant rights organizations are supporting the Smithfield workers by urging supermarkets to stop stocking the product from that plant. A nationwide group of students plan nationwide actions later this spring and a coalition in North Carolina will stage actions later this month to pressure Harris Teeter to stop selling Smithfield products. Henry says she hopes that the actions of Jefferson Market will encourage other stores to consider the morality of the products they stock. Reverend Jesse Jackson, Reverend Al Sharpton, Danny Glover and noted Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser are among the prominent supporters of the campaign.
A coalition of student, faith, consumer advocates, civil rights and immigrant rights organizations are planning nationwide actions to encourage supermarkets to pull Smithfield Tar Heel products. In North Carolina, the campaign will focus on Harris Teeter.
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 Smithfield was found in various legal rulings to have physically assaulted, threatened with arrest by immigration authorities, threatened with bodily harm, intimidated and hurled racial epithets at employees trying to vote in elections for a union or advocating for better working conditions. For more contact Leila McDowell at 202-728-1829.
###
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.
