Feds issue formal complaint against Smithfield Foods on union charges

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.dailypress.com/business/dp-biz_smithfield-union_0903sep03,0,2172208.story


Smithfield stunned Up to 630 local jobs will be lost with closing of plant (Sangjib Min, Daily Press / February 17, 2009)



By Peter Frost 247-4744

10:06 p.m. EDT, September 2, 2009

SMITHFIELD — The National Labor Relations Board has issued an official complaint against Smithfield Foods Inc., alleging the company engaged in unfair labor practices with the union that represents workers at the company's soon-to-close Smithfield South Packing Plant.

If the company and the Food Processors Local 1046 are unable to reach a settlement in the coming months, the case will move to an Administrative Law Court, said Wayne Gold, the NLRB's regional director. A hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 7 in Newport News.

The board's ruling came after a two-and-a-half month investigation into a series of charges filed by the union in the wake of the company's announcement that it would shutter its South packaging plant and transfer some of its 1,300 workers to other sites.

As part of Smithfield's plant closure plan, nearly 750 South Plant employees will be offered transfers to the North Plant, where workers are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Some workers already have made the transition.

Smithfield proposed that the Food Processors join the Teamsters with their seniority rights intact, an agreement the company worked with the Teamsters to craft. That proposal would have effectively eliminated the Food Processors union.

In the NLRB's complaint, the board alleges that Smithfield was wrong in bargaining with the Teamsters on behalf of the bulk of the Food Processors members who will transfer.

The NLRB also said the company refused to negotiate with the Food Processors on behalf of the transferring workers.

FULL story at link.