Paula Deen and Smithfield Foods

[pberq]

Cross posted from the Labor forum:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=367x5743

Today, Monday, Dec. 10, is International Human Rights Day.

Paula Deen, a spokesperson for Smithfield Foods, is in denial about the many documented abuses of workers.

These abuses are something one might expect in a third world dictatorship, but not in 21st Century USA.

Here is something from a recent commentary by Jim Hightower:

http://www.jimhightower.com/node/6124

". . .(Smithfield) is notorious as a massive factory farm polluter of its neighbors' air and water, as a monopolist that squeezes out small family farmers, and as an anti-union abuser of working families.Family values? Try these: In recent years, Smithfield has been cited by federal regulators, courts, and other independent monitors for spying, coercing, beating, assaulting, illegally arresting, intimidating, harassing, illegally firing, and racially insulting its employees."

See the above DU link for more.

[pberq]

1. Justice at Smithfield

http://www.smithfieldjustice.com/

Poverty wages, brutal conditions, crippling injuries--5,500 workers in Tar Heel, North Carolina face 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.

[bryant69]

2. DOesn't she have a show on the cooking network?

If it's the same person, I'm glad I find her insufferable now.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Neecy]

3. she does....

And everything she cooks is just swimming with grease. Her cooking nauseates me and her hyperactivity annoys me. The food network no longer has actual chefs who demonstrate cooking techniques but loud, obnoxious 'personalities' like Deen and Ray.

[bryant69]

5. I still like Alton Brown - and I have one of Rays cooking books (but she's insufferable too).n/t

[bunkerbuster1]

14. I like Alton, but I really don't want to know his politics

Given that, once, on a show he said "I want a flat tax," I've taken him for a Libber.

If he'll shut up about it, I might continue to like him.

[AlCzervik]

6. i wish they'd bring back the original "Iron chef" bad dubbing and all, that show was awesome.

food network now officially sucks.

[Neecy]

7. I *loved* the original Iron Chef

The American version (or versions, as this is the second they're tried) just lacks the charm of the original Japanese show.

[AlCzervik]

8. the chairman and the actress that was always covering her mouth and giggling just made me lol.

and as much as i like Alton Brown they should cut back on his air time because he's going to end up on everything including boxes of wheat thins and it will be just too much.

[Critters2]

20. That actress was great fun!!

I loved that show!

[donsu]

12. me too - loved the Japanese one and the judges were fascinating

nt

[peace frog]

4. Amen to that

I can't stand to watch more than 30 seconds of that steel magnolia.

[China_cat]

10. Try going to Savannah sometime and try to get around

the 6 blocks surrounding her restaurant. People stand in line for hours to get a reservation a month in advance for dinner or a quick lunch a week away, blocking traffic.

[pberq]

16. Yes, you are right - Paula is the rage with tourists in Savannah

See the webpage below for links to the reports of documented abuse that Paula Deen is supporting.

http://www.smithfieldjustice.com/aboutthecampaign.php#2

Smithfield's Tar Heel, N.C. plant is full of documented abuse. Below are links to legal decisions, reports, and testimonies describing Smithfield's unethical and illegal actions.

Human Rights Watch Reports

• Human Rights Watch Report - Blood, Sweat, and Fear: Workers' Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants 2005 Read

• Human Rights Watch Report - Unfair Advantage - Documenting Systematic Human Rights Abuses at Smithfield 2002

o Unfair Advantage: Workers' Freedom of Association in the United States under International Human Rights Standards

o Blood, Sweat, and Fear: Workers' Rights in U.S. Meat and Poultry Plants

1997 Election

• NLRB Ruling Finds Smithfield Packing Committed Egregious Violations Again

• US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit

Smithfield and QSI
• NLRB Decision April 28, 2006 (QSI)

Court Decisions and NLRB Decisions

The U.S. Court of Appeals and the National Labor Relations Board have found that Smithfield has engaged in a systematic pattern of labor rights violations.

• Smithfield and the Courts

Testimonies

• Former Supervisor Blows the Whistle on Terror Tactics in Tar Heel; Smithfield Foods

Exposed on Capitol Hill 6/02. Read

• Testimony of Sherri Buffkin. Read

Health and Safety

• Report on Health and Safety at Smithfield Packing in Tar Heel, NC - Click here
• Graphic of Injury Rates - Click here

[Occam Bandage]

11. She does, unfortunately. Her love of butter is an in-joke wherever she appears.

In ads, a claymation Deen replaces a snowman's carrot nose with a stick of butter. When she was on Iron Chef, they joked that the secret ingredient should have been butter. Butter butter butter.

I'm sorry, but I'm not exactly impressed with her cooking. Anyone can fry meat and pour an extra stick of butter into a recipe. Using fats and sugars to flavor a recipe is not impressive.

It's disappointing that everything's gotta have a gimmick nowadays. Their two best chefs--Bobby Flay and Mario Batali--are stuck in Iron Chef purgatory, or (in the case of Flay) in Throwdown, which is an absolute waste of his talent. I have no idea how good a chef Robert Irvine is; all he seems to be good at is yelling about deadlines while making mediocre food on a short schedule.

Meanwhile, the people who actually have shows--Deen, Giada, and Ray--cannot cook. Giada's okay, but nothing special. Ray and Deen are pointless. I don't watch FoodTV to see recipes I can make; I watch it to see how they do things I can't do.

[stirlingsliver]

9. Say It Ain't So, Y'All

Say it ain't so, y'all.

Paula Deen is in denial, y'all?

Y'all.

Y'all.

Y'all.

Don't buy Smithfield foods, Y'all.

Bye, y'all.

[Skidmore]

13. She's not in denial, she's engaging in some serious CYA for

something that could possibly be a source of litigation. In other words, she's doing what she receives a paycheck to do.

[pberq]

17. Good point - but does she really need the money that bad?

What about all the negative publicity? Don't you think that would outweigh any benefit?

[Snarkturian Clone]

15. Don't mess with my girlfriend.

I don't care if she mixes babies into her pancake batter. Paula "stick o' butter" Deen is awesome.

[pberq]

18. I can't tell if you are serious

If so, then are you saying it is o.k. in your view for Paula to be a paid spokesperson for a company that has been found guilty of assaulting pro-union employees, that has been cited by Human Rights Watch for numerous abuses, etc, etc.?

[Snarkturian Clone]

19. Nobody's perfect.

As I was reading your post your avatar said:

"I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing and seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed"

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi

[EOTE]

28. Another Deen supporter here.

I'd like to think that she's just a sweet southern gal who's just a little naive in not wanting to believe the worst about a company she helps to represent. Yeah, most of her recipes are pretty bad for you, but they're damn tasty, and I think she's fun to watch. Perhaps she is in denial, but that doesn't make her a bad person. Maybe she'll come around on this one.

[fishnfla]

21. Well, she had an episode with Jimmy and Ros Carter

I'm not a fan of Smithfield because of their horrible pollution. But that episode was cool.

[aikoaiko]

22. The workers and unions have a legit beef with Smithfield management, but protesting Deen seems lame

They are protesting Deen for working for the same people they are (or want to) work for.

[pberq]

24. The point is that Paula Deen, with her celebrity status,

could use her position to influence Smithfield to treat their workers with at least the minimum respect they deserve.

Instead, she continues to be a paid spokesperson for a company that commits horrible abuses against its employees.

Check out these examples from the Human Rights Watch report:

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/usa0105/4.htm#_Toc88546732

Why Is It So Dangerous?

Key features of meat and poultry industry labor make it rife with hazards to life, limb, and health. Here are the chief dangers:
Line Speed

Meatpackers try to maximize the volume of animals that go through the plant by increasing the speed at which animals are processed. The speed of the processing line is thus directly related to profits. However, the fact that line speed is also directly related to injuries has not prompted federal or state regulators to set line speed standards based on health and safety considerations.

The sheer volume and speed of slaughtering operations in the meat and poultry industry create enormous danger. Workers labor amid high-speed automated machinery moving chickens and carcasses past them at a hard to imagine velocity: four hundred head of beef per hour, one thousand hogs per hour, thousands of broilers per hour, all the time workers pulling and cutting with sharp hooks, knives, and other implements.

. . .

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2005/usa0105/6.htm#_Toc88546758

. . .

The judge in the Smithfield case reviewed documents and heard testimony from all parties and evaluated the credibility of company and union witnesses. All witnesses faced challenging cross-examination by lawyers from the other side. In a 442-page single-spaced decision issued in 2000, the judge made detailed findings of massive abuse against workers trying to exercise their freedom of association. Based on the evidence, the judge found that Smithfield illegally:

* threatened to discharge union supporters and to close the plant if workers chose union representation;
* threatened to call the INS to report immigrant workers if workers chose union representation;
* threatened the use of violence against workers engaged in organizing activities;
* threatened to blacklist workers who supported the union;
* harassed, intimidated, and coerced workers who supported the union;
* disciplined, suspended, and fired many workers because of their support for the union;
* spied on workers engaged in lawful union activities;
* asked workers to spy on other workers' union activity;
* grilled workers about other workers’ union activities;
* suppressed workers’ right to freely discuss the union in non-work areas on non-work time and to demonstrate support for the union at work by wearing unobtrusive union insignia;
* confiscated lawful union literature being lawfully distributed by workers;
* applied a gag rule against union supporters while giving union opponents free rein;
* applied work rules strictly against union supporters but not against union opponents.246

The judge concluded that the widespread company violations made the election un-free and unfair and ordered a new election in a neutral site. The new election has not taken place. The new election has still not occurred because the company is determined to exhaust all its appeals—a process that can be exceedingly lengthy.247 As this report is written, Smithfield’s appeal is still pending at the five-member NLRB in Washington, D.C. six years after the unfair election was held, and three years after the appeal was filed. The Board’s ultimate decision can be appealed to a federal appeals court, meaning that several more years might pass before a final decision in the case.

. . .

[TahitiNut]

23. Smithfield Foods should receive the "corporate death penalty" imho.

They're an appalling trafficker in human labor. Criminal.

[pberq]

25. SMITHFIELD: JIM CROW ECONOMICS ALIVE AND WELL

http://www.multinationalmonitor.org/mm2006/112006/mokhiber.html

The 10 Worst Corporations of 2006:

. . .

SMITHFIELD: JIM CROW ECONOMICS ALIVE AND WELL

Smithfield, the largest pork producer in the United States, has appeared twice before on the Monitor’s 10 worst list — once for factory farm pollution, once for its takeover of the former number two pork producer, a move that dramatically worsened agribusiness concentration and left small farmers increasingly at the mercy of the remaining giant processors. This year, Smithfield is on the list for its labor practices.

Jim Crow economics is alive and well at Smithfield’s Tar Heel, North Carolina pork processing plant, the largest in the world.

For more than a decade, the more than 5,000 workers there have attempted to organize a union, only to be met by a vicious anti-union campaign that has included organized beatings of union supporters, operation of an official company police force within the plant (not a private security operation, but a governmental police force) with the power to arrest workers and detain them at the plant, the deployment of the local sheriff’s department to intimidate workers, racist slurs, and use of the Immigration and Naturalization Services department to harass Smithfield’s increasingly immigrant workforce.

[underpants]

26. Their old best friend

[underpants]

27. ---PAULA DEEN INTERVIEW HERE---

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=389