"Boater" wrote in message
...

SMITHFIELD WORKERS FINALLY WIN UNION: After 16 long years, Smithfield
workers finally got their union Thursday. “We are thrilled,” said Ann
Simmons, a veteran of 13 years at the Smithfield Packing plant in Tar
Heel, North Carolina. “This moment has been a long time coming. We stuck
together, and now we have a say on the job.” The 2041 to 1879 vote to join
the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) puts an
end to a 16-year battle by workers to organize that included a history of
worker intimidation and legal maneuvering by Smithfield and worker
solidarity campaigns in DC and dozens of other cities across the country.
“This was a big election for our union,” UFCW Local 400 President C. James
Lowthers told UNION CITY! Friday. “It is always good to see the success of
new strategies within UFCW and the labor movement to improve the lives of
workers.” “This is a great victory for the Tar Heel workers,” says UFCW
Director of Organizing Pat O’Neill. “I know they are looking forward to
sitting down at the bargaining table with Smithfield to negotiate a
contract.” Workers at 26 Smithfield-owned facilities around the country
already have UFCW representation.
- - -

Worker intimidation is putting it mildly. :)

Typically, employees at these southern food processing plants are not
organizing so much for substantial wage increases, but for safer working
conditions and for decent treatment as human beings.

About 16 years ago in North Carolina, 25 workers were killed and another
50 were severely injured in a chicken processing plant fire. The doors of
the plant were padlocked once the workers were inside at their stations on
their shifts. The plant owners claimed they padlocked the doors to prevent
vandalism and theft.

When I was a college kid working summer jobs in New Haven, I was lucky
enough to get employment at the Shick Razor Company in Milford. Big plant,
no theft. Company policy was to sell packs of razor blades to employees at
a nickel a pack, the actual cost in those days of manufacture.



Well..that is some good news, especially during the Christmas season.
Our Johnny H should be pleased.