Court Rules Pork Processor Broke Law in Fighting Union
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
The New York Times
May 10, 2006
Nearly nine years after a unionization drive failed, a federal appeals court has ruled that the Smithfield Packing Company repeatedly broke the law in battling unionization at its giant pork-processing plant in Tar Heel, N.C.
In a decision released on Monday, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld a broad cease-and-desist order that the National Labor Relations Board issued against Smithfield in 2004 in response to complaints by the United Food and Commercial Workers. The union accused Smithfield of illegally skewing a 1997 election by intimidating and firing workers.
Concluding that Smithfield had engaged in "intense and widespread coercion," the appeals court upheld the labor board's ruling that one worker was improperly coerced when he was ordered to stamp hogs with a "Vote No" stamp.
The appeals court ordered Smithfield to reinstate four fired workers, one of whom was beaten by the plant's police the day of the election. The court concurred with the labor board's findings that Smithfield's managers were not credible when they insisted that the four workers were fired for reasons other than their support for the union.
The circuit court noted that Smithfield had illegally confiscated union materials, spied on workers' union activities, threatened to fire workers who voted for the union, and threatened to freeze wages and shut the plant if the employees unionized. The Smithfield plant has 5,500 employees and is the world's largest pork-processing facility.
The union, which has complained about how long the litigation has taken, is continuing organizing efforts at the plant, but is not seeking an election. It lost the 1997 election 1,910 to 1,107.
Gene Bruskin, the director of the unionization drive, said, "It's atrocious that the courts and the N.L.R.B. have taken this long and that Smithfield can get off the hook for this long when it has shown such gross disregard for the laws of the land."
Smithfield voiced disappointment, saying it was considering an appeal to the Supreme Court. Dennis Pittman, Smithfield's director of human resources, said, "We are proud of our high employee morale, and we are anxious to put this issue behind us."
In a separate case, the labor board ruled last week that Smithfield and QSI, the cleaning contractor in Tar Heel, had assaulted and illegally fired several immigrants who staged a walkout in November 2003 to protest the firing of two supervisors. Smithfield said it would appeal.
nytimes.com
Pork processor warned on union
A union organizer expects little to change. Smithfield Packing may appeal
Barbara Barrett, Washington Correspondent
The News & Observer
May 10, 2006
North Carolina, US
WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court has ordered Smithfield Packing Co., which runs the nation's largest hog-killing plant in Tar Heel, N.C., to never again threaten workers who are trying to unionize.
But the union seeking to represent those workers doesn't think the legal order will change things.
"We fully expect Smithfield to ignore it," said Gene Bruskin, the Smithfield organizer for the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which is trying to organize workers. "On a practical level, sadly, there's no consequence."
For its part, Smithfield said in a statement that it is "disappointed" with the ruling and may appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The ruling came Friday from the District of Columbia Circuit of the Court of Appeals. It agreed that during two union drives in 1994 and 1997, the company confiscated union materials, spied on employees and threatened workers with firings, wage freezes and a plant closure if the union was approved.
Both times, the food workers union lost the worker elections.
Now, according to the ruling, the plant must pledge that the threats and intimidation won't happen again. It must say plainly, We will not assault you. We will not interrogate you. We will not intimidate you. We will not threaten you.
It must post the promises in the plant and mail them to affected workers. And it must allow the union to hold an election.
Renee L. Bowser, the union attorney who argued the case, said the ruling also grants back pay to 10 workers who were fired for supporting the union. The amount will be decided by the National Labor Relations Board, though Smithfield could challenge that.
Bruskin said he doesn't think anything concrete will come from the ruling. Instead, he said he expects the company will appeal and drag out its response.
"There's no teeth, so all of these things have no impact," Bruskin said.
Smithfield employees about 6,000 workers at the hog-killing and processing plant in Tar Heel, a small community about 100 miles south of Raleigh. Employees working fast-moving assembly lines slaughter and cut up hogs every few seconds.
The court ruling came on an appeal of a decision by the National Labor Relations Board about whether Smithfield had acted wrongly during the two union drives. The food workers union asked the appeals court to give the union special access to workers to help them organize.
The ruling Friday denied that special access, but it upheld the other findings.
Smithfield said in a statement Tuesday that it was disappointed that the appeals court did not overturn part of the labor board's decision that found fault with the company's conduct.
The statement said most workers involved in the 1997 case have left and that the latest ruling and allegations against the company have no impact on current employees.
"The folks who are working here today don't know much about any of this and are basically unaffected by the claims and allegations," Dennis Pittman, director of human resources for Smithfield Packing, said in the statement.
He said the plant has one of the best retention rates in the industry and some of the best wages and benefits in the community. "We are proud of our employee morale and anxious to put this issue behind us," Pittman said.
Also last week, the same court found that Smithfield and a cleaning company with which it contracted had physically assaulted workers in retaliation for walking out in protest of a fired supervisor.
The court found the walkout was reasonable and protected under federal law.
The court said Smithfield must stop threatening or assaulting workers who try to organize or demonstrate under the law and that it must reinstate 14 workers to former jobs or the equivalent and give them back pay.
The rulings come as the food workers union is again trying to organize Smithfield workers. Every day, Bruskin said, the union hears from people who attend meetings, sign cards and say they want representation.
And Bruskin said the years-long court process allows companies to continue blocking union efforts.
"This is still alive today inside the plant," he said. "The workers there want a union."
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