1-26-07, 9:08 am
For immediate release: For information Contact: Leila McDowell 202 728 1829 UNION CONDEMNS ARRESTS OF WORKERS AT SMITHFIELD PLANT IN NORTH CAROLINA AS A CONTINUING PATTERN OF TERRORIZING WORKERS AND THEIR COMMUNITIES
ARRESTS VIOLATE ICE GUIDELINES
'Smithfield has a history of using threats of arrest by immigration authorities to intimidate workers and this is a continuation of that pattern', says Gene Bruskin head of the Smithfield Justice Campaign, a national coalition backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) that is supporting workers' efforts to get the protection of a union contract at the Smithfield, Tar Heel plant.
The arrests of the 21 Smithfield workers by the US immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) comes on the heels of the company announcement that it will fire up to 600 people next month primarily those who walked out in protest last November over the firings of fellow employees allegedly for receiving social security no match letters. 'The arrests are another way to incite fear and try to stop more protests,' Bruskin said.
In a recently settled legal case, Smithfield's private company police force, now disbanded, was found to have unlawfully threatened workers with arrest by federal immigration authorities in response to their advocacy for better working conditions. 'Now they've made good on those threats,' Bruskin said.
Smithfield is appealing NLRB order in that case.
The arrests, which are likely to increase, are also be in violation of ICE's own instructions which preclude the agency from facilitating the use of immigration laws of enforcement to intervene in the course of a labor dispute. Workers have been fighting for a union at the Tar Heel, North Carolina plant for over 10 years. The company entered into a partnership with ICE in July, 2006 following the union's launching of a national campaign in June.
'The entire community has been terrorized,' said Bruskin 'Parents are being torn from their young children who don't know where they are. Many of these workers have given their life blood to this company for as long as 6 years and now are being summarily handed over to be arrested and discarded.
It is unconscionable and continues Smithfield's pattern of callous disregard for the well being of its workers.'
Many workers were afraid to show up for work last night. Today production is down by as much as 50 percent at the plant. The past three months have been characterized by a series of confrontations with Smithfield workers.
Following the November walk out, last week, Smithfield threatened its employees with being fired for petitioning for a Martin Luther King holiday and taking the day off. The petition was signed by thousands of the predominantly African American and Latino workers.
'Smithfield is the wrong company for our government to partner with on immigration enforcement. Legal rulings have confirmed its long and immoral history of abuse, unlawful firings, assaults, intimidation and threats against workers', Bruskin said.
The UFCW is supporting the establishment of a humanitarian fund to assist workers and their families who are unfairly terminated.
The company was condemned in two Human Rights Watch reports for widespread, dangerous working conditions. A recent report on injuries, based on OSHA data, found that injuries rose 200 percent since 2003.
From Justice at Smithfield
