Oink!

A pretty good report by Adam Hochberg on the Smithfield Foods Pork processing plant in Tar Heel, N.C. The report mentions that the courts and the National Labor Relations Board did find that Smithfield used unfair practices during the unionizing efforts by the United Food and Commercial Workers union in 1992 and 1997. However the article downplays the problems at the plant and the grievous nature of the offenses committed by he company. The piece on NPR also doesn't put the actions at Smithfield in the larger context of the awful conditions in the meat industry--so bad they have drawn the attention of Human Rights Watch as in this report. Given that even the worker that the company put forth to praise her job at Smithfield had to concede that injuries are a fact of life at the plant, I wanted to know what medical benefits and compensation are available to injured workers. For readers wanting to learn more about the Smithfield case take a look at a few of these links: the Washington Post, and the UCFW.