UFCW

  • Rap: ‘If we can change the White House, we can change the hog house’

    The victory was so beautiful it deserved a poem--even a rap.

    In December 2008, just a few weeks after Barack Obama’s election, the United Food and Commercial Workers won one of the largest union elections in decades at the Smithfield Foods pig slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, North Carolina. The 5,000-worker plant is the largest in the world, killing 32,000 pigs a day. The workers are mostly African Americans and Latino immigrants.

  • Sick of Worrying, Sick of Waiting, Backers of Immigration Reform Rally

    Chanting “Si se puede! Yes we can!,” a feet-stomping, fist-pumping crowd squeezed into St. Anne’s Church for a rally yesterday urging Congress not to waste any more time and reform the nation’s immigration laws.

  • Colorado Grocery Workers Split on Swallowing Big Concessions
    by Amy Rosner and Ric Urrutia
    Dec 15 2009 - 5:11pm

    A Colorado grocery chain received an early holiday present this year: a concession-filled contract, rammed through by UFCW International over local objections.

  • "Irresponsible" Striking

    We’ve known for a while now that the economic crisis has dampened the willingness of workers to head out on strike (with some courageous exceptions). That’s partly due to the business class and the corporate press, who take every opportunity to poison the atmosphere against rank and filers who dare to resist corporate demands.

  • Is Fighting for Justice at Smithfield Racketeering?

    Jane Slaughter

    Is it illegal for an activist group or union to criticize a company’s business practices? Is it a “conspiracy” if advocates call for boycotts, organize rallies, or press for resolutions from elected bodies? Smithfield Foods, the largest producer of pork products in the world, is hoping so, after a lawsuit it filed last October passed an initial court challenge. . . .


    Yes
  • Smithfield Agrees To Talk to Union After Big Rally at Annual Meeting

    Mark Brenner

    A boisterous crowd of more than 1,000 meatpacking workers and supporters was on hand to greet Smithfield Food shareholders at their annual meeting August 29 in Williamsburg, Virginia. Demonstrators called on Smithfield executives to respect the organizing drive. . . .


    Yes