Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
to organize. According to one poultry slaughterhouse worker, his
employer “always gets rid of workers who protest or who speak
up for others. When they jumped [the line speed] from thirty-two
chickens a minute to forty-two, a lot of people protested. The com-
pany came right out and asked who the leaders were. Then they
fired them.”
Perhaps the most high-profile attempt to organize is the ongo-
ing battle between workers at a pig processing plant in Tar Heel,
North Carolina, and Smithfield Foods, the company that owns and
operates the plant. Working with these individuals, the United
Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) has called attention
to their struggle with its “Justice at Smithfield” campaign.
According to Human Rights Watch, the laundry list of offenses
committed by the company includes threatening to: fire union sup-
porters and to close the plant if workers chose union representa-
tion, call immigration authorities to report immigrant workers if
workers chose union representation, use violence against work-
ers engaged in organizing activities, and blacklist workers who
support the union. Furthermore, the plant's management has dis-
ciplined, suspended, and fired workers because of their support
for the union and has spied on workers engaged in lawful union
activities.
Former Senator John Edwards recently sent a letter to the presi-
dent of Smithfield Foods, which calls on the company to protect
the rights of workers at its Tar Heel plant and to stay out of their
unionizing efforts. Edwards wrote: “Protecting the right to orga-
nize in our democracy is important because it allows working men
and women to help make decisions that affect their work lives. I
hope and expect that you will protect the right of your workers in
North Carolina and across the country to form a union and bargain
collectively.”
One of the many aspects of modern food production that is
