For immediate release 7/05/07 Contact: Leila McDowell 202 728 1829
Presidential Master Chef is still waiting for Paula Deen's Response to his Letter
The award winning Presidential Master Chef, Talli Counsel has written an open letter to fellow celebrity chef Paula Deen asking that she end her endorsement of Smithfield Foods. The company has been mired in controversy including a series of legal rulings that found it assaulted, intimidated, illegally fired and used racial slurs against its workers. Human Rights Watch has written two reports citing widespread abuses at the world's largest pork plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina plant.
Chef Talli's saying that he and Deen are in a "unique position to make a difference" in the lives of the families who work at Smithfield" asked Deen as the "face of Smithfield foods" to agree to meet with the workers and end her endorsement Smithfield workers have been following Deen on a Smithfield sponsored tour of the south trying to get her to accept a letter they have written asking for a meeting. "We are fans of Paula Deen and we can't understand why she won't listen," said one woman Ronnie Ann Simmons who was badly injured working at Smithfield. "We can’t imagine that once she knows the truth she will keep supporting a company that has inflicted so much pain and suffering on every day working families."
The next stop for the Michael Moore style appeal is in Nashville, Tennessee August 4th where, joined by area churches, workers will attempt to enter the venue to deliver an enlargement of a letter asking for a meeting with Paula.
The unusual appeal from fellow celebrity chef, Chef Talli emerged after heread about the tragic circumstances of workers at the Smithfield plant. "I was raised to care about people and I can only hope that Paula Deen will investigate and understand these issues with Smithfield, as I have, and possibly work together too end the issues that face the Smithfield workers once she learns the facts" said Counsel. Chef Talli has ended all use of the Smithfield products, and will urge fellow chefs and culinary associations to take a very serious look at this situation.
Counsel, who has won many awards for his culinary creations, is the nation's only African American presidential master chef having worked with two U.S. presidents. A few of his personally developed cuisines include: Italian Rainwater, European Crystal, Dr. Woo's Chinese Hot Wok, and California, New Coastal Cuisine, Deep Gator Cajun Cuisine, and San Francisco Cable Cars & Crayons.
For more information or to interview Chef Talli contact Leila McDowell at 202 728 1829
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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.
