Smithfield critics to protest at groceries (on Saturday 3-31)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/558923.html

Smithfield critics to protest at groceries

Kristin Collins, Staff Writer
Supporters of a union campaign to organize workers at Smithfield Packing Co. in Bladen County will protest outside a Raleigh Harris Teeter on Saturday.

Organizers with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union are circulating a petition asking Harris Teeter to stop selling Smithfield's products, including a store-brand bacon that is made by Smithfield.

A group of union supporters will be outside the Harris Teeter in Raleigh's Cameron Village from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday. Similar protests are planned in 16 other cities in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee, union representatives said.

"We are telling Harris Teeter we don't want pork that's packaged with worker abuse," said the Rev. Nelson Johnson, a union supporter, in a statement. Johnson is co-founder of the Southern Faith, Labor and Community Alliance in Greensboro.

The union has been trying to organize the more than 5,000 workers at Smithfield for several years. They say workers are subjected to dangerous conditions and intimidation. Working conditions at the plant were detailed in a Human Rights Watch report in 2005, and since then, the union campaign has drawn support from across the country.

Smithfield has strongly opposed the union. The National Labor Relations Board ruled that the company threatened union supporters and tainted two past union votes at the plant.

Now, Smithfield officials say they are ready to hold a new union election at the plant, and they have offered to have an outside group monitor. The union, however, says a fair election within the plant is not possible. They are asking the company to recognize a union without an election.

They hope that pressuring retailers to yank Smithfield products from the shelves will force the company to agree.


Staff writer Kristin Collins can be reached at 829-4881 or [e-mail].

[northofdenali]

1. Steve, are these packers associated with Smithfield Hams?

Shit, I hope not, because I just bought a whole country ham, had it shipped here, and have already opened it, so I can't send it back. CRAP!!!!! :mad::nuke::mad:

Well, I haven't had any Smithfield ham in 12 years, and it'll be a very warm day in Hades, I guess, before I have any more.

Thanks for the heads up. Sorry I didn't know about this sooner, because we are MAJOR union supporters. My dad was first a president, then business manager, for IBEW as Kennedy Space Center was being built - some major fights, and he won 'em all.

[Omaha Steve]

2. Yep, that is them

It is hard to remember all the companies that aren't labor friendly. And then you have to sometimes choose between three or four of the least friendly companies. Starbucks is family friendly by many standards, but has fired employees that have tried to organize. They also use Cintas which is a big anti labor company.

Starbucks 2006 Corporate Irresponsibility Report Available Online
Submitted by SWU on Wed, 03/21/2007 - 11:52am.

Coffee farmers receiving just 2.2% of the retail sales
of their beans at Starbucks?

Starbucks insuring a lower percentage of its workforce
than Wal-Mart?

Is Starbucks' Corporate Social Responsibility Report a flashy exercise in Venti-sized deception?

Learn the reality behind Starbucks' socially responsible rhetoric in this new report from Justice from Bean to Cup! and the IWW Starbucks Workers Union. Find out what we learned on our trip to meet Ethiopian coffee farmers and what it's like to work behind the green apron in a Starbucks cafe.

Full text: 2006 Starbucks Corporate Irresponsibility Report http://www.starbucksunion.org/files/iww_sbuxcorpreport.pdf

[northofdenali]

3. I have had ONE cup of coffee (??) from Starbucks in my life.

And I'm almost 53, and in the "backyard" of Seattle. Nope, I buy coffee from sources in Mother Jones and such. I know the growers aren't union, but at least they are getting a fair shake.

The new forum rocks. Thanks for your persistence!!