For immediate release 10/15/07 Contact:  Leila McDowell 202 728 1829

STATEMENT FROM SMITHFIELD WORKERS IN TAR HEEL, NORTH CAROLINA ABOUT COMPANY BREAKING OFF TALKS

Workers cite harassment and intimidation inside the plant and violations of the law. Legal charges to be filed.

It is with great disappointment and sadness that we have learned that our employer, Smithfield Foods, has called off talks with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). Over the past summer, thousands of us signed petitions to the company asking for union representation and for a process "without the threats, abuses and interference that we have seen in the past."  Our desire to vote and our overwhelming support for a union is clear.  We agreed that the UFCW should try to find out if they could get an agreement with the company to allow us a free and fair process to choose union representation.

The UFCW and Smithfield have engaged in lengthy talks about a process that would allow us the democratic right to choose.  We are seeking a free and fair process that would protect our rights and allow us to make our choice without the threat of heavy-handed company interference or influence.

The UFCW was willing to agree to a process other than majority sign-up election, which was our first choice. We appreciate the willingness of the company to consider an election under a different set of rules than the failed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections of the past.  But Smithfield would not agree to the most important condition of all: that the company would not use any pressure tactics to discourage workers from voting for a union. 

This is a key point for us.  Smithfield has a long history of violating the law during two previous NLRB elections at our plant and at election at its Wilson, North Carolina plant.  During the first election in 1994 they committed serious violations and fired several pro-union workers.  After the Labor Board issued a complaint Smithfield agreed to a second election in 1997 and promised not to do the same thing. In fact their conduct was worse. They even brought the county Sheriffs in and created an armed camp on the days we voted.   The legal rulings found that Smithfield assaulted, intimidated, threatened, illegally fired and even hurled racial slurs at the workers during the election.  Smithfield's actions during the 1997 election terrorized the workforce.  Years later, workers still clearly remember how workers were fired, threatened and harassed.

In May 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld all the charges that the Labor Board found against the company.  Unfortunately, while the Court forced the company to pay back wages and rehire the fired workers, Smithfield never openly admitted they did anything wrong. This made us doubt their claims of "changing their ways."  

Since the May, 2006 ruling, Smithfield has continued its aggressive campaign to harass and intimidate us from choosing to have UFCW representation at work.  We work under unsafe conditions that Smithfield refuses to address.  Injured workers are denied good medical treatment and cast aside.  And Smithfield continues to intimidate and retaliate against workers who speak out for worker rights.  Several of the strongest and most outspoken union supporters were fired over the past nine months. Smithfield has illegally discouraged workers from distributing literature and has even issued its own literature that is threatening and illegal.  For months daily TV ads have been running on English and Spanish stations comparing UFCW organizers to Mafia thugs scaring workers in their homes.

Every month hundreds of new hires are shown a video that lies about the company's role in attacking workers rights during previous NLRB elections.  The company illegally asks new hires to sign a letter written by the company calling for another election like the ones that have failed in the past. This is a violation of Federal labor law and we are filing charges.  Smithfield even has signs up in the plant that say that union organizers are like roaches.   Our movement is not about outside union organizers.  Our efforts are led by workers like us who continue to organize for a union voice.  Our employer is calling us "roaches" for wanting a union in our workplace.

These violations continued throughout the summer while the UFCW was talking to the company in good faith about giving us a real democratic process. 

We will continue to struggle for a union until we win.  We sincerely hope that the company will come back to the table at some point and agree to a genuine fair process that allows us to vote without company pressure.   We know that a union at the plant will benefit the company, the workers and our entire state through increased safety, lower turnover and a happier and more productive workforce.   We have seen that Smithfield has maintained a good relationship with its UFCW-represented workers in twenty-three other locations around the U.S.  We believe that those of us working here in North Carolina deserve to be treated with the same respect afforded to our UFCW brothers and sisters at Smithfield.  The company needs to understand this fact and then we can move forward together. 

Smithfield Workers for a Fair Choice