For immediate release 8/21/07 Contact: Leila McDowell 202 728 1829
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS, WORKERS WILL CONVERGE ON SMITHFIELD SHAREHOLDERS MEETING TO PRESS FOR RESOLUTION OF HIGH PROFILE DISPUTE WITH COMPANY
Wednesday August 29th Rally 12 noon Williamsburg Virginia
Demonstration and Petition Delivery 2pm
Reverend Jackson, Al Sharpton, National Council of Churches, Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon, Judge Greg Mathis, National Baptists, NAACP, Mexican American Political Association petition Smithfield to meet with workers
Hundreds of representatives of national and state organizations will converge on Smithfield's annual shareholders meeting to petition the company to meet with workers and the union to develop a fair process for the workers to decide on unionization.
Smithfield workers at the world's largest pork processing plant in Tar Heel have been fighting for a union for 12 years. Two previous NLRB elections at the plant resulted in over 50 violations of the law by the company according to the Federal Court of Appeals. In various legal rulings, the company was found to have assaulted, intimidated, threatened, illegally fired and used racial epithets against workers during the elections. Over ten years, after the initial violations, the court ordered the company to pay over one million dollars in back wages and reinstate the workers illegally fired. Workers want the company to sit down with them and the union to develop a process that can safeguard their democratic right to choose without having to endure another decade of legal rulings devoid of any meaningful sanctions should the company violate the law again.
"According to legal rulings, this is a company that has not demonstrated the ability to hold a free or fair election in Tar Heel," said Reverend William Barber head of the North Carolina State NAACP, who is leading a delegation of influential faith, civil rights and consumer groups from North Carolina to the shareholders meeting. "There has to be a fair process developed to give Smithfield workers a free choice this time."
Human Rights Watch has documented widespread dangerous conditions at the plant in two reports and OSHA data reveals injuries increased 200 percent between 2003 and 2006. "This is a fight about real families and real lives. It's about workers who are tired of being injured and then discarded, unable to work again or support their families," Barber said.
The organizations will demonstrate at the meeting with large puppets, special songs and large signs and attempt to deliver a blown up letter signed by thousands demanding the company sit down with the workers and the union.
Rally: 12noon First Baptist Church, 727 Scotland St,
Demonstration: The Lodge of Williamsburg, 310 South England Street,
For information and to speak with workers and leaders of the march 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.
