For immediate release 11/15/07 Contact: Leila McDowell (202) 306 7947
ALDERMEN TO JOIN protest against celeb chef Paula Deen AT CHICAGO THEATER FOR HER SUPPORT OF ABUSIVE PORK COMPANY
COOKING QUEEN IS ASKED BY CITY ELECTED OFFICIALS TO END CONTROVERSIAL ENDORSEMENT OF COMPANY CONDEMNED BY MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
Colorful, noisy demonstration Saturday, November 17th Chicago Theater 9:30am as protesters carry huge hearts and wear chef’s hats 175 N. State St.
Protesters will attempt to deliver a letter from abused workers from the Smithfield Pork processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina to celeb chef Paula Deen who is appearing at the Chicago Theater this weekend. Deen has come under fire for her promotional deal with Smithfield, which has the largest pork processing plant in the world. The company was found in legal rulings to have assaulted, intimidated, threatened and used racial epithets against its employees trying to better working conditions at the Tar Heel, North Carolina plant. Human Rights Watch issued two reports in 2000 and 2005 documenting widespread dangerous conditions there that result in high rates of often crippling injuries.
Chicago aldermen are asking Deen to keep the promise she made on the Larry King Show to meet with workers who are trying to inform her about the harsh and inhuman working conditions. Several will join protesters at Saturday’s demonstration The workers have already received the support of individuals including Senator John Edwards, Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon, Judge Greg Mathis and Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser.
In the letter to Paula Deen, the elected officials ask that she meet with them out "of respect for the people of Chicago and its elected officials". Last year the city council and Mayor of Chicago, the scene of meatpacking abuses almost a century ago, passed a resolution against Smithfield calling on the company to allow workers to choose a union and to "cease and desist from the deplorable, immoral and illegal conditions they have inflicted on their workers."
Over a decade ago, Kathie Lee Gifford was similarly approached over sweatshops involved in the manufacturing of her line of clothes causing her to eventually change suppliers.
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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.
