Reminder November 28, 2007 3:30 to 5:00 pm - "The Labor Rights Movement at Smithfield Foods"

Please announce, distribute, post, and forward...

Workers' Rights, Unionization, & Worker Safety

The Labor Rights Movement at Smithfield Foods

November 28, 2007 3:30 to 5:00 pm

 

Room 201 Science Building

Organized by Stephen J. Sills, Assistant Professor

Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina Greensboro

 

Poverty level wages, brutal conditions, crippling injuries-this is what 5,500 workers face every day when they walk in the door of the world's largest hog processing plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina. Smithfield Packing has created an environment of intimidation, racial tension, fear, and sometimes, violence, for workers who desperately want a voice on the job.

To meet production goals, the processing lines move exceedingly fast. Workers are under extreme pressure to keep up, and some have reported being verbally abused, or even fired, if they fall behind. Others try to keep up to the best of their abilities, but very few work in this plant for more than a couple months without suffering an injury. Safety and health are of many workers' rights issues at the plant. Human Rights Watch has cited Smithfield Packing for violating international human rights standards in two reports. According to Human Rights Watch, Smithfield has violated the rights of workers to organize a union, has denied workers' compensation to injured workers, and has retaliated against workers for reporting injuries.

Smithfield Packing is a serial labor law violator, having blatantly refused to abide by National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decisions which ordered it to stop unlawfully assaulting, firing, intimidating and threatening workers with violence and arrest. Even after a federal appeals court in May 2006 ruled against Smithfield and upheld the NLRB's cease and desist order, the company continues to disrespect the law.

http://www.ufcw.org/smithfield_justice/index.cfm

Please come to this special talk hosted by the Dept. of Sociology

--
Stephen J. Sills, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
320 Graham Building
PO Box 26170
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC  27402-6170
http://www.uncg.edu/~sjsills/
sjsills@uncg.edu