Approximately 1,000 non-union workers, mostly Hispanics upset with the recent firing of immigrants for allegedly providing false documents, walked off their jobs at a Smithfield Foods Inc. slaughtering plant in Tar Heel, N.C., on November 17, a union spokeswoman said.
About 300 workers were protesting that morning outside the plant, said Libby Manly, a representative of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which helped organize the protest and has been trying for years to form a union at the plant.
According to Gene Bruskin, a representative of the union who serves as the Smithfield campaign director, Smithfield Foods also has failed to address problems of sexual harassment and denial of workers compensation claims.
The plant, 25 miles south of Fayetteville, employees 5,000 workers and slaughters up to 34,000 hogs a day.
Smithfield spokesman Dennis Pittman said the company was only complying with a request from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to gather the names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and gender of workers at the plant. Approximately 600 workers were found to have unverifiable information. The company fired about 75 people for providing false information, he said.
"This walkout, which apparently was instigated by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, is totally unjustified," Pittman said. "If Smithfield were to do what the union is calling for, we would be breaking federal law by knowingly employing undocumented workers. The union should stop trying to pressure Smithfield to break the law."