AMERICAN LABOUR:

FINALLY !!!- JUSTICE AT SMITHFIELD:

After years of struggle workers at the Tar Heel Plant in North Carolina have finally won union recognition. This struggle has been mentioned before here at Molly's Blog. Here's the story from Jobs With Justice.

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Victory at Smithfield!:‏
WORKERS AT THE WORLD'S LARGEST MEATPACKING PLANT VOTE YES TO UNION REPRESENTATION

Tar Heel, N.C. - This week workers at Smithfield Packing in Tar Heel, North Carolina, chose union representation with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW). Workers voted 2041 to 1879 for a voice on the job.

"When workers have a fair process, they choose a voice on the job," said UFCW Director of Organizing Pat O'Neill.

"This is a great victory for the Tar Heel workers. I know they are looking forward to sitting down at the bargaining table with Smithfield to negotiate a contract. The UFCW has constructive union contracts with Smithfield plants around the country. Those union contracts benefit workers, the company and the community. We believe the workers here in Tar Heel can achieve a similar agreement."

Ronnie Ann Simmons, a worker of 13 years at the plant said, "We are thrilled. This moment has been a long time coming. We stuck together, and now we have a say on the job."

Jobs with Justice would like to congratulate the workers and their union for their courage and inspirational example. We would also like to thank the many faith, community, student, labor and political leaders who stood by the workers at Smithfield through their long struggle.

Smithfield workers have shown the way for workers everywhere as we fight together for an economic recovery that benefits everyone. It shows the importance of passing the Employee Free Choice Act so that all workers can have good jobs with decent wages, respect on the job and a future for their families.

Sign on to Support the Employee Free Choice Act:

http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/vp_xDw71xcDg/

LABOUR SOLIDARITY:

CALLING PAULA DEEN:

Poverty wages, brutal conditions, crippling injuries---5,500 workers in Tar Heel, North Carolina faces this every day at the world's largest hog processing plant. Cited by Human Rights Watch for violating international human rights standards, Smithfield Packing has created an environment of intimidation, racial tension and sometimes violence for workers who want a voice on the job. For many years now workers at the plant have been fighting a vicious management in order to gain the right to unionization and decent working conditions.

Yesterday, December 10th was Human Rights Day, and supporters of the Smithfield workers organized in Justice at Smithfield carried out events designed to bring attention to human rights abuses at this plant. The television chef Paula Deen has become the paid public spokeswoman for the company. Her face will be featured on pork products from Smithfield this holiday season. For the past two weeks Paula Deen has been travelling across the USA to promote her new recipe book, and at every stop along the way supporters of the Smithfield workers have been asking her very publicly to stand up for the rights of workers in the company that she promotes. Yesterday she returned home to Savannah, Georgia to be met with a Human Rights Day demonstration in her home town.

Justice at Smithfield is asking people to keep up the pressure by telephoning her office at 912-233-2600 or by using the email contact form on her website. To learn more about the struggle of the Smithfield workers consult their website. To see more about how workers' rights are systematically violated in the workshops of the "Land of The Free' see Unfair Advantage' (Workers' freedom of Association in the United States and 'Blood Sweat and Fear' (Workers' Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants). Both are produced by the Human Rights Watch organization.