Union Personal Vignette

Smithfield Foods is the largest hog producer and pork processor in the world. This
multinational company is headquartered in Smithfield, VA, and has a massive operation
in the Bladen County city of Tar Heel, NC. The company has $7 billion in U. S. annual
sales and $1 billion in international sales. The five thousand workers at the Tar Heel
plant slaughter, cut, pack, and ship more than twenty-five thousand hogs a day each day.
The Tar Heel plant opened in 1993 and elections for unionization through the United
Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) were held in 1994 and 1997.
Included among the reasons union representation was sought was: hazardous working
conditions, underreporting of injuries, denial that injuries were work related, discouraging
workers from utilizing workers’ compensation, threatening to terminate employment
without just cause, to secure a living wage, and to secure health benefits.
The tactics of Smithfield Foods in the 1997 election were especially egregious: unlawful intimidation, coercion, spying on workers, and beating up some workers on the day of
election. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in 1999 that Smithfield Foods
had engaged in unfair labor practices and unfair election conduct. The case was then
heard before an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ).   In 2000, the ALJ ruled that Smithfield
had violated the law by threatening, harassing, intimidating, coercing, improperly
disciplining workers, used workers as spies on other workers, suppressed workers’
rights to organize, confiscated lawful union literature distributed by workers, and
strictly applied work rules against union supporters. The company was ordered to
pay $1.5 million to workers it had fired illegally. Smithfield Foods appealed the
ALJ’s ruling. In 2006 a Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ALJ’s decision. In October
2007 Smithfield Foods sued UFCW under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt
Organizations Act (RICO), legislation targeted against extortion by mobsters and
gangsters, for the UFCW’s organizational support of the workers.
In the latter part of October 2007, Smithfield Foods entered into settlement with
UFCW which eventually lead to the union election in December 2008. The workers
voted 2041 to 1879 for representation by the 1.4 million member UFCW.   According
to the Bladen Journal, Smithfield Foods and UFCW are currently in negotiation
but neither side is releasing specific details.  A spokesperson for UFCW has
previously stated that collective bargaining would address the issues of wages,
health care, benefits, safety, training, and seniority.

Some Recommendations for Meat Packing Companies by Human Rights Watch

Reduce the speed of machinery on production lines to reduce injuries;
Reconstruct lines and work stations to provide adequate space between
workers using sharp and otherwise dangerous equipment to increase safety;
Customize (or make adjustable) work station dimensions, to the extent
feasible, to account for workers' individual physical characteristics;
Implement ergonomics standards to provide equipment engineering
improvements, job rotation, more frequent rest breaks, enhanced training
in workers' languages, and more accurate and complete recording and
reporting of injuries;
Halt the use of captive-audience meetings with groups of workers, one-on-one
meetings between management and individual workers, or other forms of
interference with workers' exercise of freedom of association;
Stop the use of permanent replacements against workers who exercise the
right to strike;
Halt the use of company security personnel or deputized police as a means
to harass, threaten, intimidate, or otherwise pressure workers to not exercise
their rights; and
Work with relevant industry associations to improve working conditions
and respect workers' rights.

Key Dates:
1906   Pure Food and Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act passed
1935   National Labor Relations Board established
1937   United Packinghouse Workers of America formed
1983   Meatpacking workers' pay fell below the average U.S. manufacturing
wage for the first time. Since then, the decline has accelerated by 15 percen
t lower in 1985, 18 percent lower in 1990, and 24 percent lower in 2002.

1. For more in depth information on the process that unionization took at Smithfield Foods
in Tar Heel visit the Human Rights Watch article Blood, Sweat, and Fear at http://www.hrw.org.
For more information about the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union visit
their web site at http://www.ufcw.org.