Free Speech at Risk!
Free Speech at Risk! Smithfield Foods has filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Jobs with Justice, the Change To Win (CTW) labor federation, and the union organizing its employees in Tar Heel, NC, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). The suit was filed under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute designed to fight organized crime. The baseless suit comes in response to the growing national campaign to support workers’ rights at Smithfield. In addition to the Smithfield lawsuit, the Wackenhut Corporation recently filed a federal RICO case against SEIU, and Bashas Inc, a grocery chain in Arizona, filed a state RICO case against UFCW. In each of these cases, the companies are asking the courts to rule that traditional First Amendment-protected activities such as handing out flyers, attending rallies and issuing press releases are evidence of “criminal conspiracy” under federal and state RICO laws. The Smithfield case goes even further, asking the court to block organizers from petitioning city councils and churches to pass resolutions condemning the company’s notorious worker abuses at its Tar Heel plant. This legal tactic is a direct response to Jobs with Justices’ successful effort to petition City Councils and churches across the country to pass resolutions condemning Smithfield’s labor practices. We believe these lawsuits were filed in an attempt to intimidate activists and chill legitimate debate. If successful, they could serve to attack anyone seeking to redress corporate abuses through legal free speech activities, whether environmental issues, animal rights, workers’ rights, or other issues.
The fact is, corporations would rather spend millions on lawsuits and erode our Constitutional rights than meet union demands for a decent workplace. It may be cheaper for them, but it’s nothing more than corporate bullying. We will not be intimidated and we will not back down! UNITED FOOD AND COMMERICAL WORKERS INTERNATIONAL UNION (UFCW) STATEMENT ON SMITHFIELD FOODS’ BASELESS LAWSUIT Washington DC—Smithfield Foods' suit against the UFCW comes as no surprise, given the company's abuse of the law for more than a decade. The company's violations against workers at its Tar Heel, North Carolina, plant are well documented in public records, including illegally firing, intimidating, assaulting, using racial epithets and spying on workers. Twice workers attempted to exercise a choice for union representation at the Tar Heel plant, and twice the company suppressed their rights by violating the law. The internationally acclaimed and widely respected Human Rights Watch twice issued reports that cited Smithfield for systematic abuse of worker rights. At Smithfield's nearby Wilson facility, the company engaged in similar misconduct to suppress workers from attaining union representation. A Pulitzer Prize-winning series in the New York Times exposed how the company fueled racial tensions among white, African American, and Latino workers. The company has been cited and fined by the EPA and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources. It is more than ironic that Smithfield now wants to turn to the law to shield its abusive conduct from public exposure. The company action constitutes hypocrisy of the highest order, seeking to hide behind a frivolous lawsuit that also targets community and religious leaders for advocating on behalf of Smithfield's Tar Heel workers. In effect, Smithfield's suit attempts to prevent petitioning national and state government bodies with grievances. It seeks to prevent organizations from informing and petitioning the public to support causes. It seeks to prevent consumers from learning about the working conditions that exist where products they buy are produced.
It seeks to label national, state, and local public officials, religious and community leaders as unwitting dupes of the UFCW because they support the cause of justice at Smithfield's Tar Heel plant. It is truly shameful that Smithfield is willing to spend millions of dollars on high-priced lawyers and frivolous lawsuits rather than committing the resources needed to provide basic safety and health improvements for Tar Heel workers. In concert with other powerful corporations, Smithfield Foods has helped eviscerate labor law in this country. And now these giant corporations are attempting to further exacerbate the imbalance between workers and corporations. The Smithfield lawsuit is an assault on fundamental American values. It ultimately seeks to ensure that only the voices of the powerful are heard. That corporate conduct is privileged and beyond reproach. And that the workers, consumers, and communities corporations purport to serve have no stake in how an enterprise treats its workforce or serves the communities where they live. Like the golden parachutes CEOs receive regardless of their responsibility for bad business decisions, Smithfield refuses to be accountable for its irresponsible disregard of the law. The UFCW will aggressively continue to expose Smithfield's irresponsible corporate behavior wherever it occurs. The UFCW will continue to work with community and religious leaders and elected officials in this cause. The UFCW will not be bullied by a baseless lawsuit, and we will continue to struggle for worker justice at the company's Tar Heel facility. For more information, contact Jim Papian, UFCW, 202-466-1564 or Leila McDowell, 202-306-7947 or email press@ufcw.org
Market Basket, Shaw's, Stop & Shop, and Johnny's Foodmaster drop Tar Heel Smithfield Bacon! Last week, Boston area Justice @ Smithfield supporters inspected 70 supermarkets in Eastern Massachusetts and found that products made in the Tar Heel Smithfield plant had been pulled from the shelves of Shaw's, Stop & Shop, and Johnny's Foodmaster. These stores got the message that pork products produced in Smithfield's Tar Heel plant are not welcome in Massachusetts and we thanked them for doing the right thing. In addition, the cities of Boston, Chelsea, Somerville and Cambridge all passed resolutions supporting the workers at the Tar Heel Smithfield plant and calling for the removal of products made in the plant from the shelves. All these victories have Smithfield scared! The company sent the head of PR for Smithfield, Dennis Pittman, all the way up from Virginia last week. He tried to do damage control with city and town officials, who all told him that they stand firm in support of Smithfield workers! What's next? Well, there is still two chains that have not taken the product off of their shelves, Big Y and Hannafords. In the next few weeks we will be going to these stores to ask the managers to do the right thing and pull Tar Heel made Smithfield products from their shelves. You can help! Email us at jennifer@massjwj.net to get a packet of information on Tar Heel to give to your local supermarket. This one small action can help produce big effects!
For the latest information on the campaign go to www.smithfieldjustice.com T
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