NLRB rules against Smithfield Packing

On Jan. 26 the National Labor Relations Board(NLRB) ordered Smithfield to pay $1.1 million in back wages, plus interest, to employees wrongly fired by the company in mid-'90s. The agreement resulted from a federal court order regarding company interference in union elections held at the Tar Heel plant in 1993 and 1997. Dennis Pittman, spokesman for Smithfield stated that the company has met all of the requirements in the case related to the past elections, opening the door for a new union election. A coalition backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which has been trying to organize Smithfield Packing Co.'s Tar Heel, NC, plant for more than 10 years, disputed the company claims that it has cleared the way for workers to vote on whether to unionize, saying more lawsuits remain outstanding. "It's a completely false claim," said Leila McDowell, spokeswoman for the UFCW, which is supporting efforts to unionize the plant. She said an agreement has not been reached due to "a lack of compliance on an issue and pending labor violations." NLRB did not reply to the AGR's request for comment on the dispute, however, Howard Neidig, an official with the National Labor Relations Board who spoke to the Fayatville Observer, said that although the board had completed an agreement with Smithfield regarding issues related to previous union elections, no new organizing election will be scheduled because a case involving a subcontractor is still pending.