Report from Smithfield

The United Food and Commercial Workers have just issue the following statement about where things stand with the Smithfield Foods walkout, which we've been covering at Facing South:

Thanks to the determined workers at Smithfield's plant in Tar Heel, who bravely took a stand for their rights, and to the thousands of supporters who stood up for justice by calling and writing Smithfield to protest its treatment of employees, Smithfield agreed to the workers' demands to halt the firings of employees and to reconsider its implementation of immigration policies in the plant.

The walk-out generated thousands of calls to the company from national religious, civil rights and immigrant rights organizations, as well as individual supporters, demanding that workers' rights be respected. Organizations included the National Baptist Convention, the Progressive Baptist Convention, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the North Carolina NAACP, National Council of Churches and Rainbow Push. Eric Schlosser, whose new movie Fast Food Nation opened this past weekend, issued a public statement condemning the company for its victimization of the workers.

Following the walk out, the company agreed to negotiate around the workers' issues through the Catholic Church and its attorneys. The company acknowledged that it had misinterpreted the law and agreed to make appropriate adjustments to comply.

For the first time, Smithfield also agreed to meet with a group of workers elected by the workers themselves to further negotiate about plant issues and employee concerns on Tuesday. Specifically, the workers and the company have already agreed to the following:

1. Smithfield has agreed to increase the time allowed for employees to respond to "no match" letters from the Social Security Administration.

2. Employees who have been laid off for failure to resolve Social Security issues may return to work while they sort out these issues.

3. Smithfield's Human Resources Department will designate a staff member to help process "no match" Social Security issues and respond to questions.

4. Smithfield has agreed that if mistakes have been made, they will be addressed.

5. No disciplinary actions of any kind will be taken against those employees who participated in the walkout.

6. Tar Heel plant manager Larry Johnson will meet again with a group of Smithfield employees on Tuesday, November 21.

The resolution seems to be a good one for workers and the Justice at Smithfield campaign, which can persuasively argue the walkout achieved at least short-term victories. It's also good for Smithfield Foods, which can say it's taken care of the problem as they had into a chat with reporters and shareholders about the company's quarterly profits.

In related news from the world of Big Agribusiness, Carolina Turkey -- the top poultry corporation in the country, headquartered just down the road from Smithfield in Mount Olive, NC -- is bracing for the holiday rush thanks to their buyout of Butterball and its turkey empire:

Carolina Turkey acquired ConAgra's processing plants in Arkansas, Missouri and Colorado, adding 3,200 employees to the 2,500 employee it already employed. The company's headquarters will for now remain in Mount Olive, where the company has a 1 million square foot facility it calls the world's largest turkey processing plant.