A large-scale demonstration has been organised against Smithfield Foods by unions, council members, religious leaders and employees in New York for allegedly mistreating workers at the Smithfield Packing Company in North Carolina.
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The pork processing company has responded by questioning the motives of what it terms as a nationwide ‘anti-Smithfield’ campaign.
The protest will be staged next week (20 June), by members of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, New York City Council Members and local faith, immigrant and civil rights groups, along with three Smithfield employees.
Similar demonstrations will be held in Richmond, Chicago, Atlanta, Raleigh, Washington, DC and Boston.
Meanwhile, Smithfield has decided not to appeal against a decision by the US Circuit Court of Appeals concerning union elections held at the company’s Tar Heel, North Carolina, plant in 1993 and 1997.
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By GlobalDataSmithfield Packing Company president and CEO Joseph Luter said: “Smithfield respects and accepts the court’s judgment, even though we strongly disagree with the findings. We have argued strenuously that the allegations the union made concerning Smithfield’s conduct during both elections were false. But we recognize that we have lost our case in court.
“When a new election is called, we will comply fully with the NLRB’s remedies to assure a fair vote that represents the wishes of our plant’s employees. We believe that our employees should have the right to choose whether to unionize, and we respect the choices they make. Unions, including the UFCW, represent employees at a number of our plants and have done so for years without labour conflict. The UFCW has unsuccessfully attempted to organise employees at this particular plant for over a decade.”
The UFCW accused Smithfield of assaulting, intimidating, threatening with deportation and unlawfully firing employees during attempts to form a union, and of preventing workers at the Tar Heel plant from forming a union for the past ten years. These accusations were upheld in a ruling handed down by a US Circuit Court.
Smithfield has responded by saying its plants “meet the highest state and federal regulatory standards for worker safety and environmental responsibility”, and that with approximately 40% of Smithfield workers already unionised, the company welcomes employee choice.
