In most of America, it's 2006. At Smithfield Packing in Tar Heel, North Carolina, though, it feels more like 1906 -- like a scene out of Upton Sinclair's
The Jungle.
That book shocked America's conscience one hundred years ago and started a drive for safe, sanitary working conditions that revolutionized the meatpacking industry.
In Tar Heel, though, you might be forgiven if you thought none of that had ever happened. Workers there say that the company cares more about the hogs it kills than it does about the health and safety of its employees -- and with hundreds of injuries, many life-altering, being reported every year, it's not hard to see why they feel that way.
This Friday, labor unions across America are joining together to help these workers win the justice they deserve -- and they need your help.
More about Smithfield and what you can do to help after the jump.
Conditions in the Tar Heel plant are nothing short of brutal. Every day, 5,500 workers are expected to kill and disassemble 32,000 hog carcasses. With two production lines in the plant, that means the average worker has 1,000 of these massive carcasses flying at her every day. And she only gets two 30-minute breaks. Yes, that includes lunch.
Which, as you might imagine, leads to injuries. Last year 421 injuries were reported by workers at Tar Heel -- an increase of 21% from the year before. And this year is even worse: a whopping 463 injuries were reported just between January 1 and July 31. If that rate keeps up, the total at year's end will be 794 -- up 89% from 2005.
(Those numbers, if anything, under-report the seriousness of the problem. The company maintains its own medical clinic on site, and that's the first place they send injured workers. Many employees report being "treated" by being told they're OK and sent back to the line -- which, for some, leads to aggravating their injuries further.)
Read stories of Smithfield workers who have been injured and abused
STANDING UP
Workers at Smithfield Packing haven't taken this treatment lying down. They've been trying to get union representation for twelve years now. But the company has fought back with tactics straight out of the Gilded Age.
The story of Smithfield's attempts to break the union movement in Tar Heel is told in two reports by Human Rights Watch. Here's links to the sections that describe conditions at Smithfield:
This year, a Federal appeals court described the tactics used by Smithfield to crush a 1997 attempt by workers to organize -- tactics that included administering beatings to organizers and union supporters via an armed company police force -- as "egregious or widespread misconduct".
IT'S TIME FOR JUSTICE
This week, Americans all across the country are standing up to demand justice at Smithfield -- and they need your help to make that a reality.
On Friday, Smithfield workers will be joining religious, civil rights and community leaders to march on Smithfield's New York City headquarters and demand justice.
Of course, not everyone can come to New York City. So we at the Change to Win labor federation have organized a "Virtual Protest" that will let you join the march virtually, from your home or office.
Just sign up for the Virtual Protest and you'll receive instructions on how you can participate. It will only take a few minutes of your time and you'll be joining more than 4,000 activists across the country who have already signed up.
At Change to Win, we believe that all working people deserve a shot at the American Dream -- respect at work, a paycheck that supports a family, affordable health care and a secure retirement. Nobody's going to give us that stuff, though; it'll only come to us if we fight for it.
That's why we're fighting to help the workers at Smithfield achieve that dream, and why we hope you'll join us!
(Want to read more about the campaign to bring Smithfield into the 21st century? The Justice at Smithfield website has what you need.)