NC slaughterhouse, union get along after fighting

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By EMERY P. DALESIO

TAR HEEL, N.C. (AP) -- The owner of the world's largest hog slaughterhouse and the union it fought in one of the South's longest-running labor disputes have buried more than 15 years of animosity.

A year after their first labor contract took effect in the union-hostile region, the United Food and Commercial Workers and managers of the Smithfield Packing plant said they've set aside bitterness in a rural region where jobs are scarce.

"Surprisingly, for the 17 years of fighting we had, our relationship is as good as any place with Smithfield that we represent," said Mark Lauritsen, the UFCW's international vice president for meatpacking plants. Two-thirds of the 32,000 employees in corporate parent Smithfield Foods' pork division are covered by union contracts, the company's annual report said.

Workplace injuries and the rate of employees who miss work are both down. While the sputtering economy helps keep people at their jobs, some say the work environment at the massive plant is better than ever.


Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SMITHFIELD_UNION?SITE=PASUN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

---

FILE - In this July 21, 2006 file photo, Edward Morrison holds up a sign protesting against Smithfield Packing, in Fayetteville, N.C. The owner of the world's largest hog slaughterhouse and the union it fought in one of the South's longest-running labor disputes have buried nearly a generation of animosity. A year after their first labor contract took effect in the union-hostile region, the United Food and Commercial Workers and managers of the Smithfield Packing plant said they've set aside bitterness in a rural region where jobs are scarce. (AP Photo/The Fayetteville Observer, Andrew Craft, File)

[Blandocyte]

1. Helping those workers bring home the bacon

indeed.

[Mopar151]

2. It's a damm funny thing

Most people want to do their jobs well. When you stop kicking your workers in the balls, they generally work a little better. This is difficult thing for some managers, as they like kicking their staff in the clackers. And it might be a little easier to get cooperation now that structure is laid out by contract and folks don't spend half their day playing CYA