Smithfield Employees Vote To Join Union

[eyepaddle]

I'd say that this is friggin' huge. Perhaps American workers have had enough of getting screwed at long last.

"TAR HEEL, N.C., Dec 11, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Smithfield Packing Company announced today that employees at Smithfield's pork processing plant in Tar Heel, NC have voted to be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). Employees voted 2,041 (52%) to 1,879 (48%) to join the union in a secret-ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). "

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Smithfield-Employees-Vote-To-Join/story.aspx?guid=%7BE6EAF6F6-5D64-400C-848E-65CDDB4D7EA1%7D

[Bill McBlueState]

1. is North Carolina a right-to-work-for-less state?

If so, doesn't that mean that roughly 52% of the workforce will join the union and the rest won't? Hard to see how the workers can get effective representation in that situation.

[eyepaddle]

2. Sadly, that is true. However, it has to start somewhere

and in a state that is only 3% unionized this is still a pretty siginificant development.

[Bill McBlueState]

3. yep, it's a big start

I've heard all sorts of horrible stories about Smithfield, so this is great news.

[Omaha Steve]

4. Top labor story of the week

They started counting Tuesday. I'm shocked the results got out so fast.

K&R!

[underpants]

5. I just read this in the local paper was about to post it

They have been working and working this for 16 years. A HUGE win.


http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2008/12/12/ap5816523.html

The 52 percent support for union representation, announced after balloting ended Thursday evening at the plan, which slaughters 32,000 hogs a day and processes them into pork ready for grocery shelves, is a key victory for labor, he said.

YIKES!!

[IndianaGreen]

6. Union wins a 16-year fight to organize hog plant

Here is the local coverage of the OP's story:

Union wins a 16-year fight to organize hog plant

Tar Heel packer employs 5,000

Kristin Collins, Staff Writer

The victory is a coup in a state with the lowest rate of unionization in the nation. It is part of a larger struggle to organize meatpacking plants that have moved to the Southeast in the past few decades, hoping to escape the reach of unions.

Labor expert Marion Crain, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., called the victory in Tar Heel "an important symbolic win, not just for the union, but for the workers, to see that an employer who was steadfastly committed to resisting unionization eventually yielded."

Workers who supported the union said Friday that they hoped for many changes in the plant, including higher pay, more breaks, better work schedules and more respect from supervisors.

"You can't go to the bathroom when you want. When you're sick, they expect you to still come to work," said Charles McEachim of Fayetteville, who was leaving the plant after his shift Thursday. "We need a union."

Power in a union

Membership gives workers a voice in setting hours and determining their workloads, and gives them a procedure to appeal decisions by their bosses. The union has promised to put an end to working conditions that it says are dangerous and demoralizing.

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/1330939.html