080307 Smithfield Claims UFCW “Distorted the Facts”

Smithfield Packing Co. said Tuesday the United Food and Commercial Workers Union again has distorted the facts concerning the company's treatment of workers at its Tar Heel, N.C., pork processing plant.

The union, which has been trying to organize Tar Heel for more than 12 years, recently issued a press release saying the National Labor Relations Board ordered Smithfield to post for 60 days a notice to its employees promising not to threaten workers' chances for "promotion or job change" if they support the union.

UFCW cites a past NLRB case alleging Smithfield told employee Dan English it wouldn't consider him for a promotion or job transfer because a manager saw him pictured at a union rally in a local newspaper.

Smithfield spokesman Dennis Pittman told Meatingplace.com the company offered to post the notice some four years ago as part of a past case with the NLRB, and didn't contest the matter. The company found that the supervisor joked to English that he might not get a promotion because of "all the publicity" he'd been getting, and the joke was misinterpreted.

"Granted, the [supervisor] shouldn't have said it," Pittman said. "The union will use anything to hang its hat on."

Smithfield is currently suing UFCW for what it calls a union-led public smear campaign.

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